GOP Campaign Launches 3 Ads as Obama Heads for Hawaii; Plouffe defends campaign

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: No Vacation From McCain's Attacks
GOP Campaign Launches Three Ads as Obama Heads for a Week in Hawaii
By Jonathan Weisman and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 9, 2008; A06

With Barack Obama stepping off the playing field for a week-long Hawaiian vacation, John McCain's campaign released three new attack ads yesterday, signaling that the senator from Arizona would use the void to continue pummeling the character of his rival for the White House.

Obama's trip to Hawaii, where he spent much of his youth, comes after a week in which his Republican opponent dominated the news with his negative assault. Obama aides said the senator from Illinois is maintaining his lead in polls and will not be goaded into responding with character attacks of his own. But the assaults on him continued yesterday, with new television ads and a radio spot portraying Obama as a lightweight celebrity intent on raising taxes across the board. "Life in the spotlight must be grand," a female announcer declares to paparazzi-like images of Obama and adoring chants in the background. "But for the rest of us, times are tough."...

Many Democrats are increasingly worried that trying to debunk the McCain attacks will not be enough, particularly with the candidate on vacation. The Republican National Committee mocked Obama with "Barack Obama's Hawaii Travel Guide," noting the elite prep school he attended on scholarship and highlighting a Chevron station selling gasoline for $4.78 a gallon.

Obama did counter by airing a radio advertisement in Ohio taking McCain to task over the fact that his campaign manager lobbied on behalf of a German freight-shipping company, DHL, that is laying off over 8,000 Ohioans and moving its operations to Kentucky. But an issue-based counterattack to McCain's character assault is not enough, worried Democrats say. "It literally is the same old Democratic, consultant-driven politics," said Matt Stoller, a Democratic political consultant and blogger. "It's the same attempt not to tell a story about the country and the other guy, but to prove you're right, like an academic debating seminar."...

***

For all the media attention on McCain's ads, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe argued that the most important event of the campaign this week was McCain's trip to Ohio amid coverage of his and lobbyist-turned-campaign manager Rick Davis's role in helping DHL take over U.S.-based Airborne Express, and the subsequent loss of Ohio jobs. "John McCain can now become an emblem for what's wrong with Washington," Plouffe said, noting that McCain cannot win the White House without Ohio. "By November 4 in the Cincinnati and Dayton media markets, this will be something known by every voter."

During Obama's vacation week, his campaign will be focused on organizing in the 18 states his campaign has identified as battlegrounds, registering voters and focusing on local media. "We have a game plan and a strategy, and we're going to continue to execute it. We're not going to be terribly worried about people playing armchair quarterback," Plouffe said. "By November 4, there are character dimensions to John McCain that are going to be clear."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080803242_pf.html

[DJ13]

1. .....and once again our party has no surrogettes to hit back?

Why does this party think letting our nominee sink or swim on his own is the way to respond to the GOP?

[Seen the light]

2. He really really really needs to announce the veep

I'm getting pissed off every day that goes by and there's no name.

If he doesn't announce it the first day he gets back from Hawaii, I'm going to go into UBER-pissed mode.

[RollWithIt]

3. Wrinkly old dude Mr. Negative.......

Anyone who is undecided at this point is not going to care about this. Obama is turning out NEW voters, and this kind of crap is irrelevant now.