john kerry

Note to Candidates: Don’t Blow It!

Monday, October 20th, 2008

The election is fewer than three weeks away, and Barack Obama has a sizable lead. But that doesn’t mean the race can’t tighten. Obama is ahead—he shouldn’t pander to any voters he knows he won’t get. McCain is behind—but he shouldn’t panic and try any last-minute stunts that might push him ever farther in the red.

Past presidential candidates could have used a bit more restraint. Here are a few more tips, culled from history ….

If you don’t hunt, don’t start now … On Oct. 21, 2004, John Kerry stepped into the Ohio cornfields a politician, and stepped out a hunter and a man. Well, that’s what he wanted voters to think, at least. In a last-minute pander to gun-toting midwesterners, Kerry went on a goose hunt. But the stunt (and let’s face it, it was a stunt) didn’t work. The New York Times‘ summary of the hunting excursion included this stinging sentence: “In fact, the outfit was borrowed, along with the shotgun, from the farm’s owner, and within hours Mr. Kerry was back in tailored suit and rose-colored tie for another photo-op …” Ouch. Barack Obama, for the love of God, stay away from the shotguns! Your attempt at bowling was bad enough!

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

P+P@The DNC: Ohio Delegates Share the Secret To Winning in the Heartland

Friday, August 29th, 2008

The Midwest is ground zero for the election. It’s rural, urban, blue collar, moderate, unionized, independent…and will make the difference between winning and losing.

Whichever candidate wins Ohio is going to win the election. It’s true this year and it’s been true every election since 1896 (with one exception in 1944).

Much is made of Obama’s ability to get the vote out, and Ohio is no different.

“Obama has 300 people on the ground, John Kerry had 16,” said Sally Powless an Ohio delegate from Toledo and a member of AFSCME. ”Kerry went in 17 counties and Barack is going to go after all of them. You can’t just go in urban areas, you have to get support everywhere.”

Some of the loudest applause at the Democratic convention came with rhetoric tailored to the middle class. Other lines that targeted Exxon-Mobil or companies that ship jobs overseas brought delegations to their feet.

So when Obama says he will cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, it’s a reaction to the lay of the land in places like Ohio.

“So many plants have been closed down,” said Jane Ragland, another Ohio delegate from rural Chillicothe about 46 miles south of Columbus. ”We in rural areas have the manpower and we’re in need of employment.”

So when Obama spoke of his heroes like the “woman [who] talk[s] about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman,” he’s relating to the personal experiences of blue collar and women voters.

The personal touch is working.

“I know how he feels,” Ragland said. “I know the stumbling blocks he had before he got to be where he’s at. If he can raise above the odds, we all can. That’s what he has to get across.”

And that message is resonating in Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver said in an interview.

“He’s just got to do what he’s been doing across the county and spread his message,” he said. “It’s a historic moment to see the torch passed to the next generation of American leaders,” and Iowans are looking forward to it.

Tags: , , , , , ,
No Comments »

McCain v. McCain

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

mcflop mcflop

Crooks & Liars has done a bang-up job detailing no less than 10 major flip flops on the part of one John McCain and his crack team of campaign strategists in the past three weeks.

Just like the YouTube video that surfaced not too long ago, when is the man going to learn that everything is scrutinized during a presidential campaign?  Everything.   It already has 2,000 Diggs at the time of this publishing.  It was at 900 earlier in the day.  Even Forbes takes a shot at Johnny.  Methinks it’s going to be a long campaign season.  Methinks the more McCain opens his mouth, the more he sticks his foot in it.

My personal favorite:

4. The Media’s Treatment of Hillary Clinton. No doubt, John McCain suffers from recurring bouts of selective amnesia. And some episodes take only days to manifest themselves. During his disastrous “green screen” speech on June 3, McCain reached out to Hillary Clinton’s supporters by proclaiming, “The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans, and she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received.” But by June 7, McCain denied to Newsweek that his media critique never passed his lips, “I did not–that was in prepared remarks, and I did not–I’m not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage.”

John Kerry, the man spanked silly by Karl Rove for being a flip-flopper in 2004, is getting in on the action, taking his old buddy to task for abandoning logic and his core principles in his latest energy policy declarations.  Even the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal jumps on board the procession, albeit in much lighter fashion (it’s a necessary flip-flop!).

For the record:  Here is a pretty solid breakdown of the actual impact drilling in the ANWR and offshore locations would have on the price of gas (hint:  next to nothing, apparently).  The main source of the article?  The current administration’s Department of Energy.

Tags: , , ,
No Comments »