Stop flipping off Rove
http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93892450_shusters-convention-notebook-dems-need-to-stop-flipping-off-karl-rove.htm
Shuster's convention notebook: Dems need to stop flipping off Karl Rove
By David Shuster / current.com / @DavidShuster
Now that I have my bearings in Charlotte, there are a few things I feel compelled to share with you:
Item #1 – To all of the Democratic convention delegates and alternates who have been giving the finger to Karl Rove in the hallways here in Charlotte, knock it off. I understand why so many people are angry at Karl and feel he did great harm to our country. And I appreciate the desire to give Rove a piece of your mind. However, the coarsening of our politics isn't going to turn around until more of us condemn obscene gestures and taunts. So I urge everybody reading this to keep things clean. It's OK to tell Karl you're angry with him. You could even tweet him that you're "praying for his soul." Ask him, as I did in a recent letter, whether he still goes by the nickname of "turd blossom."
But actually shouting at him to do something anatomically impossible and then saying he should also "go to hell" isn't very classy. Such boorish taunts cross the line. This behavior is beneath the dignity that most Democrats seem to be seeking at this convention.
Watch Current's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention tonight starting at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT. Find us here.
Item #2 – The Time Warner Cable Arena here in Charlotte is a loud venue. The pitch of the seats is much steeper than the Tampa Bay Times Forum the GOP used last week, and the seats are much closer to the floor. The acoustic effect is that noise tends to reverberate, whereas in Tampa — an arena space a bit larger — the noise on the floor tended to dissipate.
The advantage for Democrats is the convention will sound much more raucous and "energetic." The problem is that speakers may have a hard time hearing themselves and will need to "surf the applause" for the sake of everybody watching on TV. Also, convention delegates in the hall may not be able to hear some of the most powerful lines from any of the convention speeches.
Item #3 – The Obama campaign, I'm told, did internal polling in Ohio the past two days and found President Obama beating Mitt Romney in the Buckeye State by more than 9 points. For weeks, the Obama campaign has been indicating that Ohio was moving more strongly in their direction. The post-convention bounce Mitt Romney was hoping for didn't materialize nationally, and the GOP convention appears not to have stopped Romney's slide in Ohio.
Ohio, as most political observers know, is a crucial battleground state. It has 18 electoral votes, and since 1944, the Buckeye State has backed the winner in every presidential election except one (Ohio went for Nixon over Kennedy in 1960). There are ways Mitt Romney could still get 270 electoral votes without winning Ohio. Republican PACs that are pulling money out of Ohio and investing it in other states are underscoring that point.
Still, most political analysts will tell you that Romney is in deep trouble — and Obama is flying high.
If Ohio is trending the president's way this strongly, I agree.
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