-
Barack Obama's $150 Million September Put Into Perspective
Tweet Share on Facebook October 21, 2008 Comment (8)Let's pause a moment and put Barack Obama's $150 million September into perspective.
Over in Data Points today (in the center column of U.S. News's Opinion page), we've got some comparative figures. John Kerry spent $310 million in the 2004 election, for example, or about twice as much as Obama raised last month. George W. Bush and Al Gore combined to spend almost $240 million in 2000. And they were big spenders: Bill Clinton and Bob Dole (or as I like to call him, John McCain version 1.0) combined for $239.9 million in 1996.
If you really want to get weirded out, consider that Obama raised more in September than Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale spent all told in 1984 ($103.6 million) and roughly as much as Jimmy Carter (two runs), Reagan, and Gerald Ford spent in the 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns combined.
The mind reels.
-
Obama's Biden Burden: Joe Tests Barack With Foreign Policy Comment
Tweet Share on Facebook October 21, 2008 Comment (52)Has anyone seen Joe Biden today? Last seen he was being bound and gagged by senior Obama campaign aides and whisked to a secure (from the press), undisclosed location.
In case you missed it (and no one within earshot of John McCain's presidential campaign has missed it), Biden committed the blunder of candidness while speaking about the challenges awaiting a newly inaugurated President Obama.
This will provide a good test of my theory regarding vice presidential candidates: They don't matter.
From ABC News:
-
The $700 Billion Oil Import Myth—Apparently John McCain and Barack Obama Can Both Be Wrong
Tweet Share on Facebook October 20, 2008 Comment (2)We spend $700 billion annually importing oil from unfriendly countries, right? The figure must be accurate because John McCain and Barack Obama both favorably cite it, right?
Ummm. Not so much.
-
The Polarizing Sarah Palin
Tweet Share on Facebook October 20, 2008 Comment (8)Ross Douthat has a great take on the reaction Sarah Palin elicits in the scribbling class. Douthat's take in brief is that it's possible she's neither a Nixon-Wallace dangerous Neanderthal nor the Second Coming.
-
John McCain's Demeanor Deficit Against Barack Obama in the Debate
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 Comment (19)U.S. News colleague Liz Halloran has a great write-up of last night's debate, citing the "demeanor deficit" between John McCain and Barack Obama.
Under the bright lights on the Hofstra University stage and in split-screen television coverage seen by most viewers at home, McCain looked like the quintessential exasperated older brother who can't believe anyone is taking his kid brother seriously.
There was copious eye-rolling. Frequent and exaggerated wide-eyed "I can't believe what he's saying" looks. And, as the debate progressed, a stiff, look-straight-ahead uncomfortableness that was in marked contrast to Barack Obama's trademark unflappable calm, which last night was modestly spiced with some head shakes and "there he goes again" grins.
I was especially struck by Obama's grin, which seemed to be a nod to the famous line Ronald Reagan used against Jimmy Carter in their 1980 debate. Reagan flashed his trademark charm and humor by deflecting Carter attacks with a bemused, "There you go again."
-
Barack Obama and John McCain's Debate—Joe the Plumber and Bill the Bomber
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 Comment (49)We heard more about Joe the Plumber than we did about Bill the Bomber.
But will either man spur a momentum shift away from Barack Obama and toward John McCain? Nope.
-
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Would Have Celebrated His 91st Birthday Today—and Loved the Year in Politics
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2008 Comment (4)My late father, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., would have celebrated his 91st birthday today. Given the year in politics, I think he would be enjoying himself.
-
John McCain's Final Debate Hope Against Barack Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2008 Comment (22)What does John McCain need to do in tonight's debate? Oh, it's quite simple.
He needs the A Few Good Men moment, where through the mere power of his words he induces Barack Obama to damn America, embrace terrorists (domestic or otherwise), raise taxes on everyone or make some other statement so jaw-dropping that some significant portion of the 50.1 percent of Americans prepared to cast their ballots for the Democrat wonder what they were thinking. (Never mind that it was the older, angrier, more militarily experienced, I-can't-believe-I-have-to-sit-here-and-listen-to-this-young-snot character who cracked in that movie.)
McCain needs to so dominate Obama that the electorate wonders how it could ever have considered the junior senator from Illinois presidential. Preferably Obama would either be left a blubbering mass or simply withdraw from the election in his closing statement.
Oh, and McCain has to do so while not appearing negative or angry.
-
Barack Obama's Ad Campaign Goes From Puerto Rico to a Video Game
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (4)Is it really possible that Barack Obama's presidential campaign has so much money that it just doesn't know where to spend it all?
I was in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, over the weekend and was bombarded with Obama ads (apparently John McCain wants to tax my health benefits while Barack Obama wants to give everyone tax cuts). They came, to the best of my recollection, either on cable news networks or during football games, so I can only assume that they were national ads (rather than air time bought in a territory without a vote in the election), but nevertheless, it was notable.
But then again, Puerto Rico is at least a real location. The picture below comes from the video game Burnout Paradise (hat-tip to TPM), and yes, the Obama campaign paid for that billboard space. Talk about money to burn.
-
Election Questions: McCain's New Economic Plan, Pennsylvania's Status, and North Carolina
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (5)A couple of questions that befuddle me with three weeks to go in the election:
- John McCain is unveiling a new economic plan today (Barack Obama gave his latest economics speech Monday). According to television reports, the McCain plan is aimed at senior citizens. Can anyone think of an instance where an October policy proposal vaulted someone from behind to victory in a presidential race?
- Pennsylvania is frequently referred to as a tossup state. Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were each there over the weekend and McCain was there today. Yet there hasn't been a poll showing McCain with a lead there in a month; and there hasn't been a poll there this month showing Obama with less than a double-digit lead. How exactly is this a tossup state? Is the racist factor/Obama Appalachian problem really so powerful?
- North Carolina? Really? My friend Doug Heye has a pretty good rundown on this in NRO, but still—North Carolina?
Post your answers below.
