Good NYT article today on how the focus of both campaigns is shifting toward undecided voters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/politics/campaign/11VOTE.html?hp
Not surprisingly, Bush campaign chair Ken Mehlman is spinning his little head off once again:
"The common theme among undecided voters is that they are not typically motivated," Mr. Mehlman said.
"We're talking about winning the war on terror and making the economy stronger. Our base voters care about that, and the swing voters care about. He's talking about why Bush is bad. His appeal is to his base, but undecided voters are motivated by different ideas and different issues."
Funny, Ken, but I'm pretty sure you're actually talking about "why Kerry is bad." As you might remember, the Washington Post had the scoop on this a couple weeks ago:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3222-2004May30.html
Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented -- both in speeches and in advertising.
Three-quarters of the ads aired by Bush's campaign have been attacks on Kerry. Bush so far has aired 49,050 negative ads in the top 100 markets, or 75 percent of his advertising. Kerry has run 13,336 negative ads -- or 27 percent of his total. The figures were compiled by The Washington Post using data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group of the top 100 U.S. markets. Both campaigns said the figures are accurate.
...
"There is more attack now on the Bush side against Kerry than you've historically had in the general-election period against either candidate," said University of Pennsylvania professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an authority on political communication. "This is a very high level of attack, particularly for an incumbent."
I guess it's not surprising that these guys would have the same contempt for truth in a political campaign that they do in running the country.