If the latest poll out of West Virginia from Insider Advantage is true, Sarah Palin's visit to West Virginia last week was fully justified!
http://politicalwire.com/...
A new set of InsiderAdvantage polls show Sen. Barack Obama leading in three key red states -- Florida, Nevada and North Carolina -- and very close behind Sen. John McCain in West Virginia.
Florida: Obama 48%, McCain 44%
Nevada: Obama 49%, McCain 46%
North Carolina: Obama 48%, McCain 46%
West Virginia: McCain 49%, Obama 47%
If that West Virginia poll is true, and it translates on polling day, this election is not going to be close overall. If Barack Obama is winning the votes of conservative blue collar "Reagan democrats" like the ones found in West Virginia, this is going to be a wipeout of spectacular proportions.
Here we now see the ultimate failure of the republican campaign. This election is going to be about big issues whether the Republicans like it or not. The silly thing is, by launching all these race-baiting attack ads, McCain and Palin aren't necessarily promoting themselves as a viable alternative. All they are doing is throwing mud. People are picking up on the charade and they don't care - even the ones who believe the mud, if you read Kos's post today.
It's like I said a few weeks ago. Most elections are about issues. Never has there been a bigger "issues" election in the past 25 years. If Obama was running in 2000, when perhaps all this Ayers stuff would have worked, because in the absence of any big issue, those connections would have been blown up and talked about most in the media. But now, with Wall Street fluctuating wildly, people are not willing to pay their attention first and foremost to the connections behind the candidates. All they are looking for is someone to solve their problems.
The campaign narrative has now already been written. When they look at Obama, they see a calm person in a crisis. When they look at John McCain, they see an erratic man trying to change the subject. NO political ad is going to change that perception. In fact, attack ads are just going to make the perception worse.
Remember: racist people have hip pockets too.
If I was Obama, in the debate today, I'd simply ask one question of John McCain: "If you can't run your own campaign, how can you run the country?"