A Tale of Two Campaigns: New Mexico Style

From this morning's Albuquerque Journal:

John McCain:

The Arizona Republican stood under a giant American flag on Mesilla's historic plaza, telling a crowd of about 3,000 people under a blazing autumn sun that he understands water, land, energy and American Indian issues better than his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
"Sen. Obama has never been south of the border," McCain said, triggering a smattering of jeers from his supporters. "He doesn't know these issues — I do. And I'm proud to be from the West."
McCain, accompanied by his wife, Cindy, was greeted by 1,000 to 1,500 people earlier Saturday in Albuquerque, where he delivered a feisty, 17-minute speech at the Spanish Village on the state fairgrounds.

Barack Obama:

"New Mexico: In 10 days, in just 10 days, you have the chance to elect the next president. You'll have the chance to bring the change we need to Washington," the front-running Democratic presidential candidate told an estimated 45,000-plus supporters who filled floodlit Johnson Field at the University of New Mexico and spilled across the campus and onto surrounding streets.

In two campaign stops in New Mexico John McCain got ten percent of the crowd Barack Obama got in his one campaign stop. The stark difference shown by supporters of the two campaigns is fascinating. People willing to stand in line for hours to see a candidate will probably be willing to stand in line to cast a vote for that same candidate.

Know hope.

Here's To Good Taste

TNC:

Likewise, I was looking at this picture of Obama's grandparents and thinking how much he looks like his grandfather. And suddenly, for whatever reason, I was struck by the fact that they had made the decision to love their daughter, no matter what, and love their grandson, no matter what. I'd bet money that they never even thought of themselves as courageous, that they didn't give much thought to the broader struggles in the the world at the time. They were just doing what right, honorable people do. But the fact is that, in the 60s, you could be disowned for falling in love with a black woman or black man. There is a reason why we have a long history of publicly biracial black people, but not so much of publicly biracial white people.

Lasting change only happens when a lot of ordinary people do extraordinarily ordinary things. He should have titled the post, Family Values.

Stop Worrying About the Crowd Noise and Refs, Ctd

In a previous post I made this point:

By being elected he will effect change in a lot of lives. A lot of kids whether they be non-white or from single-parent households are going to see Barack Obama and--maybe, just maybe--believe they can grow up to be somebody.

That post remained in my thoughts for the days since and an additional point came to mind. The image of Barack Obama as President will have a lasting impression on kids--all of them. Those of us who vote for him are of a mind to agree which much of his politicial agenda. But I think the unspoken message to our children will be powerful and worthy of consideration. He won't end racism. But our children will live in a country where they can visibly see that we are changing.

Just as college freshmen today don't remember a world without the internet, my two first graders will not know a world where every President looked like there Dad. They will live in a country where it is no longer a forgone conclusion that the President is a White Man. My hope is that sometime in the near future (2016?) we elect a woman to that position. We will then have broken through the figurative glass ceiling so my two young daughters can believe they may some day too be the President because they've seen someone who looks like them as President.

Change is slow, and often not without pain, but when it comes after the long struggle we have been through in this great Nation, the victory will be that much the sweeter.

Stop Worrying About the Crowd Noise and Refs

TNC:

Barack Obama doesn't talk about racism's effect on his campaign because it's pointless, and from a competitive standpoint, it's a distraction.

And that is precisely why Barack Obama will be 44. You can't sweat the shit you have no control over. He's running for POTUS and that is the biggest game on the planet. It dwarfs all the small-minded bigots by many orders of magnitude. By being elected he will effect change in a lot of lives. A lot of kids whether they be non-white or from single-parent households are going to see Barack Obama and--maybe, just maybe--believe they can grow up to be somebody. Not all of them. But some of them. That's a pretty good place to start--at the beginning.

ZOMG! The Hippies and Angry Negroes are Coming!

Shorter Glenn Reynolds: The DFH’s iz scary.

Does the Right really want to go there? Its not just Reynolds. The Usual Suspects are all on board with this notion that people calling Obama a "terrorist", "traitor", calling for his death at public gatherings and Governor Spice being booed at a hockey game are somehow equivalent. Jesus!






BTW shouldn’t The McCain campaign know better than to send Palin to a major sporting event? EVERY politician is going to hear some boos at a sporting event. Good grief just how stupid are these people?

But, alas, it really is scary to think we might have a President who will actually listen to ALL arguments before making a decision based on FACTS. Empiricism isn’t dead but the Right spent the last eight years making sure it didn’t get any life support.

Doin' the Right Thing

I got my absentee ballot today. If you can vote early or get an absentee ballot--do it! What are you waiting for?

This election is important and after the smears of the last few days coming form the McCain campaign and the Right it is even more important that your voice be heard.

Take the country back for our kids.

Best Debate Reaction Tonight

Jill Miller Zimon:

Let me posit this: In a VP debate, but maybe especially this one? That’s not the real question - because Biden and Palin are not running against each other. They’re trying to get their head of the ticket elected.

Given that, Biden did an excellent job working to get Obama support: he showed that Obama made a good decision in choosing Biden. That support Obama as a good decision-maker.

As for Palin, she met the basement level expectations set by her own party and ticket that’s treated her with nothing but sexism since they anointed her. And that, people like Pat Buchanan and Kit Bond, are calling a slamdunk against Biden.

‘Cept they got that wrong - she isn’t up against Biden. She needs to show that McCain’s choice of her shows that he has good decision-making abilities.

This election is about judgment and having a firm grasp of the issues. Its not an either/or proposition. You have to have both. Obama will be 44.

Staff Meetings

Got that? The Maverick? Puhleez! John McCain has NEVER been a maverick. Opportunist--yes. Maverick--Not so much.

Chicken Little Antidote

Joe Biden does yeoman work on the stump. Its still early days to know if the market tanking will have any lasting effect on November 4th, but rest assured that every time former POW (in case you hadn't heard) John McCain opens his mouth about the economy nothing that revolves around Planet Reality is coming out of it. After being pummeled the last few days for being a liar the McCain campaign post convention high has crested is crashing weakly on the shores.

The Obama juggernaut continues.

Counter Punching

The skinny Black guy with the funny sounding name punches back at the McCain Campaign. Its a hell of a counterpunch. This should alleviate some of the fears of the Chicken Littles out there.

The Road Trip Endeth

We have arrived in Vermont. It was a great trip and have much to report. I am trying to get caught up on my reading now. If Palin isn't enough proof for you that the Republicans are desperate then nothing will convince. Not one person speaking at the Republican Convention can do this:



Not one. Most of them still don’t get it. The few that do are not being heard over the Poltical Masturbation going on in Minneapolis. The Obama Campaign will crush them. Save this post. Remember that today I guarantee an Obama win. It will NOT BE CLOSE. Period.

Last Columnist Standing

Frank Rich might be the only establishment media columnist who isn't a bedwetting, thumbsucking, sack of squawking bones. Today's column is spot on and make a quick work of the tomfoolery that runs rampant in the modern pundit class.

With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this
profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.
McCain never called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired and didn’t start criticizing
the war plan until late August 2003, nearly four months after “Mission Accomplished.” By then the growing insurgency was undeniable. On the day Hurricane Katrina hit, McCain laughed it up with the oblivious president at a birthday photo-op in Arizona. McCain didn’t get to New Orleans for another
six months and didn’t sharply express public criticism of the Bush response to the calamity until this April, when he traveled to the Gulf Coast in desperate search of election-year pageantry surrounding him with black extras.

Even Rich, who can be one vicious bastard, is being too kind here. McCain is in bed and whoring himself to a bunch of War Criminals. John McCain does not deserve to be a Senator much less the President of this great country.

Was It Really All That?

I finally watched Obama's entire Berlin speech and I will have to agree with Daniel Larison:

If voters think that electing Obama President will mean doing a lot of heavy-lifting with foreign aid, sheltering refugees in Africa and protecting Burmese dissidents and the Zimbabwean opposition party, they will not be terribly interested in putting him in that office. I would have thought that he would have understood the publics weariness with the Iraq adventure better than this. Does he not understand that one important source of discontent with the war is its costliness and the diversion of resources to Iraq rather than having them used and invested here at home?

Larison also points out the Obama campaign's explanation for why the couldn't go to Landstuhl and visit an American military base is inexplicable. Good speech but I'm already a supporter and don't need to be swayed. The "citizen of the world" drivel was meaningless at best.

Sure McCain is doing his very best Buddhist monk imitation with the self-immolation over the past couple of weeks but I don't see this part of Obama's trip as all win either. It probably won't hurt him but I rather doubt it is going to help his election prospects.

The speech may be a short term PR win. (Maybe) But Americans are worried about paying their mortgage and putting food on the table, and worried they may get sick and won't be able to afford the medical care required. They are worried about their sons and daughters serving in War Zones.

Swish!

Retiring Campaign Debt: Get a Grip People

DHinMI explains that the Obama cannot take your campaign donation and use it to help Clinton retire her debt.

Let's make this absolutely clear:

Money given to Obama's campaign, either in the past or in the future, WILL NOT end up in Clinton's campaign fund.

What Obama can do is go to his donors and ask them to contribute to Clinton's campaign. He could have his campaign send out email appeals to small donors to help Clinton pay off her debt.

Got it? No can do. End of discussion we now return you to your regualry scheduled Will & Grace syndicated reruns.

Yes. We. Do.

"We want a politics that reflects our best values. We want a politics that reflects our core decency, a politics that is based on a simple premise that we stand and fall together." -- Senator Barack Obama, on the 2008 Campaign Trail

A Tad Bit Against the Conventional Wisdom

Tad Devine says Obama will win in Pennsylvania.

Call his reasoning Devine’s Theory of Voter Psychology. This theory can come into play when large numbers of voters wake up on Election Day either undecided or ambivalent about their choice—as has been true in most Democratic primaries and caucuses this season.

Essentially, it holds that when lots of voters can’t make up their minds based on personal feelings about the candidates, they’ll look to broader factors—say, the good of the party—for the deciding element.

That makes a lot of sense and I wonder if most of the predictions and polls I've seens--with the noted exception of Al Giordano--fully weigh and properly consider all the newly registered Democrats.

PA Predictions

Al Giordano says Clinton nets +4 pledged delegates in PA. He's got a great analysis and links to several other predictions.

Lobbyists Represent Real Americans

While Clinton continues with the Atwater/Rove-like attacks on Obama by misrepresenting the "small town" remarks he made, Obama runs this ad in PA pointing out her obvious love for "real people" by cozying up to lobbyists and lobby money.

Judgment vs Experience (UPDATED)

Staff writer Jason Clayworth has an interesting piece in today's Des Moines Register. The article focuses on the recent dust up with Hillary over his teenage drug use, but near the end of the piece is an interesting comment from Obama about Bill Clinton's appearance, last night, on Charlie Rose. Bill spent several minutes talking about HRC's experience. Here is Obama's response:

“Look, this is an argument that they’ve been making during the duration of this campaign,” Obama said. “Here is a quote: ‘The same old experience is irrelevant. You can have the right kind of experience or the wrong kind of experience. Mine is rooted in the real lives of real people and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change.’ That was Bill Clinton in 1992,” Obama said, noting that he has been involved in government for more than a decade.

If experience in the real lives of real people is the metric by which we evaluate our Presidential hopefuls then Bill Clinton surely must agree that Barack Obama has plenty of the right kind of experience. And Obama has certainly shown better judgment in matters such as the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. Isn't this election really about judgment? We have spent the past 15 years with Presidents whose judgment we have come to question (albeit for entirely different reasons). The last thing we need is the experience of a President who has been on the wrong side of most of the major issues of the past few years. Time for a change.

UPDATE: Here is another report of Bill's Charlie Rose appearance.