OMG! Rove's strategy + the convention schedule=sneakier than we thought

[hedda_foil]

You remember, of course, that the little emperor won't be reacclaimed until the first week in September, to be followed by a week of Sept 11 patriotic festivities. That's part of the Rovian strategy for collecting tons of money to smear our side in the "primary" period.

Here's the capper that everybody (except Trippi, I suspect) seems to have missed, though. The OLYMPICS start right after that ... literally. They open on September 13 and close on ... wait for it ... September 29. And they're in glorious and historic Athens so there's bound to be a lot of hoopla wall to wall, with
a helpful and patriotic push from pResident Shrub. They can still run ads, of course, but the cost of ad buys on the channel that covers the Olympics will be sky high, which plays into Rove's hands as well.

And what starts at the end of September and goes through October? That's right, boys and girls ... MLB baseball playoffs. Not to mention the start of the football season. Again, VERY expensive ad buys.

That means that the ENTIRE election "campaign" will be one month long, from the first of October through November 3, interrupted by lotsa baseball. That's it. No wonder Rove wants all that moolah so early. There isn't going to BE a regularly scheduled campaign season.

And of course there's Michael Jackson's trial of the century coming up in there someplace. And the new television season (which won't get started until the Olympics are over.

What that means to me is that Dean is the only one who really has a strategy that can work through this. We have to have an early nominee with the money, stamina and grass roots ground organization in all 50 states to start from a run and keep it up through November to have any chance at all in this horrendous environment.

[FuriousMNDem]

1. Well, they can have the money. We got the solutions.

[private_ryan]

4. solutions don't mean anything

if you never get the chance to implement them.

[Drifter]

7. Agree ...

If you have good ideas, you don't need billions to get the word out. Good plans sell themselves.

Cheers
Drifter

[LSparkle]

2. God, that's awful ...

I knew about the convention delay to dovetail with Sept. 11 but didn't realize the Olympics followed so quickly and then baseball ... gives new (sinister) meaning to Chimpy's quip, "Just watch me" about campaign spending. AAARGGGHHHH!

[Yupster]

20. Another reason why Terry McAuliffe needs to be fired

is the way he screwed up the convention dates. Yeah, he sure boxed in those stupid Republicans.

Terry - you are the weakest link -- good bye.

[Fleshdancer]

3. scary side note...

I hope we don't get booed at the Olympics.

[LSparkle]

5. OMG -- I don't know how I'd feel about that

ashamed or glad someone is standing up to the Empire ...

[LuminousX]

10. I'd be angry

American athletes don't set American policy.

[WilliamPitt]

22. Or bombed

It's in Greece, right?

[pscot]

6. There's a reptile in Karl's Ceasar salad

Athens is next door to istambul, Baghdad and other points of interest to brother Osama and his friends. I would bet they already have something cooked up to spoil the party. Would a major terror attack cause voters to sweep Bush back in? Not at all clear.

[1971]

15. re: "There's a reptile in Karl's Ceasar salad"

Thanks for that line. Love it! LOL

[mrgorth]

8. The olympics are every other year now.

The same thing would be happening 50% of the time. We know who their guys is and we shouldn't wait until after our convention to attack.

[chaska]

9. Whomever the nominee, (s)he will have plenty of grassroots money.

If we don't give it all, too soon, to someone who has no chance of winning.

[AndyTiedye]

11. There Is No Such Thing As Plenty of Grassroots Money

When The Other Side OWNS ALL THE TV AND RADIO STATIONS
and they will be all shrub all the time. Unlimited free advertising disguised as news.

[tom_paine]

12. I'm afraid I agree, Andy

The foundation block removed that caused the Old American Republic to crumble, historians will say, was the Free Press, when it became Corporate Pravda.

[aquart]

16. Your free press is a delusion.

Name me the time in our history when poor men owned newspapers? The press, and now the media, has always been a propaganda organ for the rich.

[sangh0]

13. Boy, what a leap in logic

How did you get from the Olympics to " Dean is the only one who really has a strategy that can work through this"? Do you really think Dean's 18% proves Dean is going to win?

[Frodo]

14. No. But it's a heck of a lot closer...

...then say... 1% or 2%.

[sangh0]

17. Impressive argument.

.

[Eloriel]

23. LOL -- a lot more impressive than YOURS

You are too funny, Sangh0. Sometimes you actually do overreach in your efforts to bash Dean, and they simply backfire, as well they should.

ROTFL

Eloriel

[ma4t]

18. expensive media buys not all that expensive

I'd welcome being corrected on this but unless the law has been changed recently I believe that radio and TV outlets are required to sell airtime for political advertising at their lowest rate. A company buying 1000 30-second spots will a discounted rate over a company buying only 10, but a campaign buying 1 spot or 1000 will get the best rate the outlet offers.

[Terran]

19. Um, but...

that's true of *every* presidential election, dear. There is always an Olympics going on, and there is always the World Series as well. They coincide. The Dems are just as capable of exploiting those usual windows of opportunity as the repugs are.

[Yupster]

21. Next year's convention schedule

Is idiot Terry McAuliffe's fault. He thought he had cleverly boxed the Republicans in, and he ended up hog-tied. He needs to go -- when will he be gone?

[Yupster]

24. Are you sure you have your Olympic Dates right?

I thought the Olympics were going to go early next year from August 13-29?

Stupid Terry McAuliffe had this great idea to trap the Republicans into holding their convention right in front of the Olympics so their news would get squashed by Olympics coverage. They couldn't wait till after the Olympics or they'd miss filing deadlines for ballot access.

Then the Republicans said screw the deadlines and scheduled theirs to start the day after the Olympics ended on August 30 - Sept 2.

That's what I had read. I'll try to double-check the dates.

[Yupster]

25. Yes Opening Ceremonies are August 13

Geeze -- price ranges from $ 1,800 - $ 1,500 per seat. Holy crap.

On edit, I rechecked the prices and the site I'm looking at is some type of resale (scalping?) site which sells the tickets above face value. Don't know what the original prices are. That makes me feel a little better anyway. Can you believe $ 1,500 a ticket to watch a ceremony?

[MaineDem]

26. Olympic Closing Ceremony is August 29

Your logic fails, I think.