Well done!
The Obama Campaign is doing quite well right now and I think the campaign operation in Chicago deserves some praise.
First, they pressed the attack aggressively (despite waiting for a few months trying to get their script together), on Bain and all the many paths of attack that spring from it. There will be more to come, and I'm confident they've seen enough of the Romney Campaign operation to see manifold weaknesses. (I believe the Romney team is actually pretty solid, but they can't manage around the weaknesses of the candidate .)
The deployment of Stephanie Cutter as hatchetwoman has been marvelous. I've been calling for a hatchetperson for years now. You gotta have somebody out there willing to play rough with sharp objects. Someone who will do the things that makes the Washington Establishment say "that's not fair!" but is effective nonetheless. She's awesome. Keep up the good work.
Weenie Dems may fret that "Bain attack isn't working." Pay no attention to that pablum. Mitt Romney's strongest poll numbers are on the economy. President Obama's weakest numbers are on the economy. The country is well convinced that the nation is on the wrong track. Mitt Romney has had tons of negative ads spent on his behalf against Obama and despite all this, Mitt Romney is still behind. Can't seem to get a toehold anywhere or put one single swing state out of play or an Obama state in play. A stronger GOP nominee would be well ahead by this point, perhaps by 5 to 10 points. President Obama's multifaceted attack on Mitt Romney's business credentials have damaged him and the Romney campaign knows it. Republican establishment is concerned because even Frank Luntz says its showing up in his indie focus groups in the swing states. It worked and will continue to work. It always works against Mitt Romney. This recipe is tried and true.
Now, after the Aurora shooting incident, they quickly switched gears effortlessly into a positive message. They got the president out to Colorado (important!) and he was pitch perfect. Now they're reinforcing their positive message with a very upbeat ad:
The ad positions him with people who work for a living while Romney goes after business owners. I'd say that's a pretty good position. If Romney wants all the bosses, let him have them. Focus on the underlings. There is simply more of them. An election is a numbers game.
President Obama still needs to tell the country what the next four years will be like. I'm pretty certain they're saving that for the convention and that's smart. Roll that out for maximum punch.
All in all, I'd say Chicago is running well on all cylinders despite the pretty badly managed political operation we've seen over the past few years. Yes, this election is going to be close because it is simply too late to do anything about the economy. We had our shot and we blew it on that. Fortunately for Democrats, we're running against Mitt Romney, one of the worst politicians of the modern era. And we've got a campaign operation that has finally gotten its act together and is showing of plenty of verve, savvy, and fight.