Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* With Republican attack ads going after vulnerable Democrats for "cutting" Medicare, Dems are pushing back with a new ad featuring a credible voice: former President Bill Clinton. Rep. Bruce Braley (D) is running this spot in Iowa.
* On a related note, Clinton will be in Florida today and tomorrow, campaigning in support of President Obama.
* Michigan is not on the list of states being "carpet-bombed" by Romney campaign television ads, but Republican officials insist they intend to keep Michigan in play by relying on an effective ground game.
* The dropout deadline is still two weeks away in Missouri, but Senate hopeful Todd Akin (R) insists he's "totally in" and "very encouraged" by his current standing.
* Karl Rove's attack operation, Crossroads GPS, launched a new round of anti-Democratic ads in key Senate races this morning, making a $2.6 million ad buy in Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia.
* Former Gov. Angus King (I) appears to be cruising to an easy win in Maine's open U.S. Senate race, but he's still hitting the airwaves, unveiling his first television ad of the year. Not surprisingly, it's a positive spot, touting King as "a leader ... who thinks independently."
* On a related note, Maine Republicans, still hoping to hold onto the seat, have begun talking up Democratic state Sen. Cynthia Dill (D), hoping that she and King will split the mainstream vote and boost Republican Secretary of State Charlie Summers' chances.
* And in Maryland, Democratic congressional candidate Wendy Rosen has been forced to withdraw after getting caught voting in both Florida and Maryland in two election cycles. Rosen was challenging Rep. Andy Harris (R) in Maryland's 1st congressional district.
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* President Obama who had an opinion on a police officer's arrest of a Harvard professor in Cambridge, Mass. has no opinion about 26,000 teachers who walked off the job leaving 400,00 students on the street in his adopted hometown/home state where his former chief of staff is mayor.
What teachers strike??? There's no teachers strike in this alternate universe!
I've noticed that too. This is kinda a toxic story given the fact the Rham has just brought the war on teachers unions/union-busting to the democrats. Obama can't weight-in on it, he risks alienating the union vote or worse, agreeing with Romney/Ryan on something.
This blog can't mention it, cause they were "All-In" on the Walker/Wisconsin thing. So it's best not to say anything and throw all the @!$%#-stories that will stick and hope it passes quickly.
Great job in that ad, editing Clinton's comments on MediCare down to 30 seconds. I enjoyed that speech greatly, but didn't think it could be used so effectively in short ads.
Democratic message makers need to stop making the mistake of repeating the lie before they present the truth. Lies are difficult to defeat. What needs to be done is state the truth first, then show how the liar is lying about it, then state the truth again. This is NOT a good ad.
http://sks.to/debunk
Exactly - classic George Lakoff, "Don't Think of an Elephant" which prominent Democrats just can't seem to get through their skulls.
You oughta write to the campaign about that. Couldn't hurt.
but....but.....but....fraud doesn't exist!!!!! This is clearly right wing nut rhetoric, lies, and let's throw racist and Fox News watcher in there for the win. This and the fraud in Arkansas, both Dems along with the left group Acorn, I understand why they don't want strict voting laws.
She voted both times under her actual name. She owns property in Florida, and registered, once again using her real identity, in order to vote in an election her friend was running in.
No voter ID law could have prevented this, because Wendy Rosen neither registered under a false identity, nor did she try to vote using another name.
The dropout deadline is still two weeks away in Missouri, but Senate hopeful Todd Akin (R) insists he's "totally in" and "very encouraged" by his current standing.
Given that the TPM poll tracker has him essentially tied with McCaskill, he has reason to be encouraged. He's got a lock on the inbred Ozark hillbilly vote.
Why aren't the Democrats explaining the American political system to the whiners who say that our President didn't get much done? In order for him do do much of anything, he has to be supported by both houses of Congress...the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Republican controlled House stated early on, and in no uncertain terms, that they would not work with nor support President Obama. They have blocked every effort President Obama has made to accomplish his promised goals, and now they whine that he hasn't kept his promises! We need to push this concept to the public.
Read any testimonial about great leadership and you'll find leaders make things happen. Thus, they do not blame others when things go wrong. In fact, they share the credit when things go right.
RM, Follow-up to TRMS comments re: The Three Rs...don't mean Readin', Ritin', and Rithmetic. We're talkin' GOP Campaign 2012 version 2.0 Three Rs...Romney, Ryan, and Russia. Within past week, when asked who was biggest global threat to America, Romney replied "Russia". After immediate media disbelief/uproar...GOP running mate Ryan clarified "Russia" remark. He said Romney was not thinking globally (what a shock!) he was picking from only two...Russia and China. Then selected Russia.
OK, fine. We will cut Romney Ryan some slack. Ryan was ostensibly still in recovery, from running a 2:50 marathon, twenty years ago. And Romney had emergency challenge, immediately following GOP convention...taming the wild Lake Winnapissakee. So, let's consider the Romney Russia remark, by focusing on just Russia and China. Would you pick Russia? You are probably thinking...Did he consider ten areas of concern, or only nine? With all the media attention, maybe he just forgot. Maybe he felt lucky. Feeling lucky, he guessed. Either way, you be the judge...Russia, or China:
Areas of concern: 1) Which nation has been the receipient of more American outsourced jobs? (Romney should really, really know that one. Really.) 2) Former Charman Mao's innocent "Little Red Book", all-time best-seller, and Cultural Revolution Bible, about ideal way of life, in what country? 3) Where did 7'6, terror "in the paint" pro basketballer Yao Ming learn to play? 4) Which country, not political party, give more births to threatened species, the Panderer Bearer Bond? 5) Which place sells high-yield junk bonds, and sails junk boats? Hidden threat: both can take you for a ride. 6) Which nation owns more U.S. debt...and...if their own GDP slows, also poses massive threat to America? 7) Talking global food supply...What was the most popular take-out on the Seinfeld show? 8) Historically, which territory posed a longer global threat? Hint: One lasted decades...while the other marched on, for thousands of years. 9) Which nation is more responsible for subsidizing global industrial dumping (ex: solar panels)...by providing their own with a very unfair competitive advantage? And 10) Over a much-extended timeframe, which land has had more unreported, unpublisized human rights violations?
Now, add up your score. We got ten for one country, and a Big Clinton ZEEEE-RRROOO!! for the other. How did you do? END. Obviously, all above fictional. Any similarity to real person(s), event(s), and/or place(s) coincidental. Not responsible for errors. Great effort by TRMS of late, especially convention week.
I'm not sure the voiceover at the beginning, before Clinton's speech, helps the ad. The lead in before Clinton is, "It's not new," and then you get Clinton's speech. If you're not paying attention, which probably most people won't be, it makes it sound like Clinton's speech is going to be part of what's not new and maybe even part of the lies.
It might be more effective to emphasize that Clinton's speech is part of the rebuttal. Instead of saying "It's not new," it might have been better to say "That's just not true," and then have Clinton speaking. Or say something like "Here's the truth about the supposed cuts to Medicare." Or "Here's the truth about what's happening to Medicare." If you have to make people work to get to the information, you're going to lose them along the way.
When Dan Rather was on Rachel's show, he mentioned how one of Clinton's strengths is that Clinton is conversational, which helps the ad. There isn't that heavy vocal mood that shows up in political ads, which make them so hard to listen to.
Extraordinarily, phenomenally stupid. Hard to believe this was some kind of oversight on her part. Well Wendy, if you have to choose a state, choose Florida. Your vote is more needed there (and yes I am a completely, unabashed Obama supporter). It does get me thinking though. How many other people own land in multiple states and are registered to vote in multiple states? My guess is that this incident won't raise any new laws. Those probably aren't the kind of votes the Repubs want to suppress. Though to their credit, most of these types of voters aren't stupid enough to run for Congress...oy!!
Yeah, speaking as a dem in Maine, I can't say I know many of democrats who are thrilled with the democratic nominee. She's just kind of wimpy, and was the est candidate out of a very weak field. A lot of us are aware that King has a huge advantage, and are planning on voting for him so as to avoid the results we got with the Governor's race two years ago.
Is it just me, or is it true that the Republicans did not really experience a "Convention Bump" and the Democrats did?
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/09/11/this-years-convention-bump-was-historic-maybe/
More time for the polls to stabilize may be needed, but this is looking pretty interesting.
Huh, whaddaya know! A real case of voter fraud, by a politician!