For the first time, there is a clear front-runner

[nam78_two]

I will preemptively say that this doesn't mean we all stop working, get complacent etc. etc. ;).
Still, it is good to see stuff like this and I think it cheers us all up and gives us even more incentive to keep on keeping on :).


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080928.wibbitson29/BNStory/usElection2008

WASHINGTON — John McCain's campaign is in crisis. The Republican presidential candidate must quickly reverse recent sharp declines and recapture the momentum in this election race if he is to avoid falling fatally far behind Barack Obama, his Democratic opponent.

The most recent survey, by Gallup Tracking, has Mr. Obama eight points up. And while many pundits, including this one, thought Mr. McCain outperformed Mr. Obama during the foreign-policy part of Friday night's televised debate, viewers disagreed. Three separate snap polls –by CBS, CNN/Opinion Research and USA Today/Gallup – confirmed that it was actually Mr. Obama's night. In the USA Today/Gallup survey, for example, 46 per cent of those polled thought Mr. Obama had outperformed Mr. McCain, while 34 per cent thought the opposite. Fifty-two per cent picked Mr. Obama, when they were asked which candidate offered the best proposals for change to solve the country's problems. Thirty-five per cent picked Mr. McCain.

In many respects, national opinion polls are meaningless, because the election will be decided in a dozen or so key battleground states. Mr. Obama was in one of them, Michigan, Sunday, while Mr. McCain traveled to another, Ohio. But the polls tell a tale there, too.
In battleground states that went Republican in the 2004 vote, either Mr. McCain is ahead by the narrowest of margins (1.2 percentage points in Ohio, according to the RealClearPolitics aggregate; 1.6 in Florida; 1.7 in Nevada) or he is behind. Mr. Obama has an aggregate lead of nine percentage points in Iowa, six in New Mexico; 5.4 in Colorado and 1.8 in Virginia.
Mr. McCain isn't leading Mr. Obama in any battleground state that went Democratic in 2004. His campaign, in other words, has become entirely defensive.

Then there is the Palin Effect. It's a whole new effect. And Ms. Palin dulled some of her lustre last week when her answers in an interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric were, at times, so incoherent that comedian Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live simply cribbed them in her mocking sketch.

More at the link...

[YDogg]

1. wait until the palin debate. she will stink

[HughMoran]

10. don't count on it

I wouldn't put too much hope in that debate helping or hurting much.

[Greg K]

27. Just as long as it doesn't hurt. nt

[sofa king]

30. One of her few skills is taking direction from an ear bud.

That's assuming such high technology made it to Alaska's local news. She really will do better than most of us expect--because someone else will be feeding her lines.

[HughMoran]

31. I don't nor have I never believed in those silly "earbud" stories

Can you imagine trying to listen and speak simultaneously?

Can you imagine trying to listen to a sentence, speak it, then listen for another?

Can you imagine if they are just giving "key words" that even that wouldn't make a person's speech look stunted and awkward as they try to tie the "key word" to the "talking point".

No, memorization is the only way to look smooth during a debate. Notice how shitty she did even with 3 x 5 cards? Only a teleprompter requiring no thinking at all or actually memorizing and practice can make a person a good debater. The whole "earbud" crap here is a preposterous fabrication that makes me laugh out loud thinking that people would actually do something like that versus simple memorization.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. What great news!!!

I love that photo. As a tall woman who is 5' 10", I always wear flats. It's nice to see that Michelle doesn't feel the need to wear heels.

:hi:

[nam78_two]

4. It is a great pic isn't it?

I am feeling very good about this election-encouraging signs all around :bounce:.
Hope you are doing good :hi:...bet you guys are super-busy right now :hug:.

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. Mostly it's better than it was a while ago.

Interesting getting to Defcon 5 Friday night during the debate. I have no clue what will happen Thursday.

:scared:

But I am pumped. And your thread helped with that.

:hug:

[nam78_two]

12. Heh

I was wondering how hard it was for you guys Friday. Yeah, I am expecting the forum to pretty much crash during the Palin debate ;)..

[msallied]

15. Hello fellow tall woman. :)

I am 6' and will occasionally wear heels. I do feel lucky my husband is 6'3 so that when I do wear heels I am at least just as tall as him and not taller. lol

[blue sky at night]

3. barack obama....

real person, real democrat, real candidate....real important we all do everything we can every day to make sure Johnny and Sarah are sent packin, ya know!

Great Post! Thanks! K And R for sure!

[Condem]

5. What were the pundits, like this one, watching?

Seriously.

[nam78_two]

6. I know

It is nuts-what did they like about McSame's answers? The spin? The lies? The boring anecdotes? :shrug:

[Condem]

8. His whole posturing, nam78.

I goddamn guarantee he will make eye contact with Obama, next debate.

[1776Forever]

9. I couldn't agree more! This was a sweet and pure win for Obama's intelligence & wisdom!

Thanks for the article!

:hi:
:kick:

[msallied]

11. I honestly believe that McCain has stopped caring.

I don't get any impression from him that he really wants to win this thing. He knew he was fighting a losing battle from the get-go, and he definitely knows it now, especially when his VP pick has proven to be such a disaster. Of course, I don't believe for a minute that she was really "his" pick.

[Condem]

13. You're underestimating him, msallied

His campaign was dead a year ago. A lotta talent there. He will get up , again.

[msallied]

14. I think that his campaign will try to do whatever it can to save face

so they won't look like Mondale did in '84. I am certain he will get at least 200 electoral votes because stupidity dies slowly, but McCain's careless actions show me that he clearly just doesn't give a shit. I could be wrong, but I feel that if he really cared he wouldn't have created such a disaster with his campaign. Or is he truly so ignorant that he honestly feels that all of this bad press is somehow going to benefit him in the end? I dunno...

[nam78_two]

16. I don't think it is that he doesn't care

I think he is just nuts and out of touch. He probably has some misguided and vaguely pathetic belief in the power of his "mavrick" stunts to get attention/votes. Watch McCain rush to DC! Watch McCain give away Bristol Palin at a shotgun wedding! Watch Sarah dance with the President of Kyrgyzstan! Watch Sarah kill a Moose with her bare hands! Huzzah!

Meanwhile people are losing their homes, worried about healthcare and the economy and not bothered about these lame stunts..

[Condem]

17. It doesn't matter if he cares, nam

The machine, sure as shit, does.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. His campaign only rose from the dead after Romney choked in Iowa.

It was nothing he did.

Had Romney won Iowa, McCain would have fizzled.

[Condem]

20. But he didn't, Drunken.

Don't get fucking complacent. The finish line is in sight.

[Drunken Irishman]

25. But don't compare what happened in the primaries to now.

It was nothing McCain did that got him back into this thing. It took Huckabee to knock off Romney and Giuliani to camp out in Florida to make McCain the front runner.

[nam78_two]

29. Besides didn't Romney and Guilani have scandals breaking that affected them?

I didn't really follow the Repuke primary very closely but I vaguely remember something about a spat between Romney and Guilani (involving something to do with illegal immigration) causing both their poll numbers to drop thereby giving McCain an edge by default.
Yeah-I don't think this is like the primaries...

[jesus_of_suburbia]

21. He wanted Lieberman, LMAO!

[jesus_of_suburbia]

19. It really does feel good. This past week was the first time I felt certain we will win.

It feels so good.

Let's hope things remain good for us in the next month.

[crossroads]

28. Yes it does feel good! I have waited 8 long years for this feeling! nt

[ShadowLiberal]

22. It's a good start, but remember Kerry/Gore got bounces after the first debate and lost the election

[Jennicut]

24. Actually Kerry was behind before the debate. It merely got him closer to Bush.

Obama was ahead before the debate and even further after. Shrub had a lead going into the final stretch but Kerry kept it close. This time we have the lead and they have to try and keep it close!

[MindMatter]

23. It is pretty bad when professional comedy writers decide not to change a word

[Cha]

26. I read a comment mccain made

once on Obama's campaign..if they didn't pop his balloon(this summer) then it would go out into the stratesphere and they would never catch it..paraphasing.

I will never count on this election until Obama is giving his inaugeral speech on Jan 20, 2009 but I'm not down in the dumps right NOW.

Even when we're ahead we need to act like we're 10 points behind and I'm sure that's what Team Obama Biden are doing.