More Please! At the moment only airing in Georgia... CNN? This is the first true Obama "Kidney Punch" of the season, lets see if the Media bites. Clearly it indicates a foul quid-pro-quo... low blow yes... effective? YES Finally some Chicago style bloodsport...
Script
"It was one of Washington’s biggest scandals. And the Republican power broker Ralph Reed was in the middle of it. In deep with convicted felon and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"But when the Senate investigated, the senator in charge never even called Reed to testify....And that senator? John McCain. And who’s now raising money for McCain’s campaign? Ralph Reed. For 26 years in Washington, John McCain’s played the same old games. We just can’t afford more of the same."
And from earlier today...
Youtube Link
Script
Can we really afford more of the same? John McCain's tax plan: for big corporations, $200B for in new tax breaks; oil companies, $4 Billion, Companies shipping jobs overseas, keep their tax giveaways. while 100 million Americans get no tax relief at all.
For the change we need, Barack Obama. A plan that cuts taxes for middle class families three times as much as John McCain would. Barack Obama. President.
Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin are airing the above.
Meanwhile the surrogates seem to be getting their A game on... we'll see if this keeps up
Rice says the Republican’s "tendency is to shoot first and to ask questions later," saying he "cheerled Bush’s decision to take our eye off the ball and start a war in Iraq that had nothing to do with 9/11."
Adds: "This is a record that belies anything approaching sound judgment."
Clarke joins in on slamming "quick-draw McCain," calling him "reckless," "trigger-happy" and "discredited."
Greg Sargent sees the bloom of a new meme, this time right at McCain's character with a Dr. Strangelove portrayal of McCain's reactionary National security stance.
In an apparent effort to regain the offensive, the Obama campaign launched a broad attack on McCain today, portraying him as reckless on foreign policy, a hot-head who's too willing to use force and not willing enough to apprise himself of facts on the ground before urging military action.
"There's something to be said for letting facts drive judgment," Rice said, also referring to McCain's desire to target Iraq right after 9/11.
The key here is that this is actually a character attack on McCain, something the Obama campaign has been reluctant to undertake at a time when McCain has shown no such reticence with regard to "celeb" Obama.
It's definitely time to sharpen the message and take it to McCain. Even The Field realizes that Obama has lost the early lead, though their take is somewhat interesting... and just crazy enough one may lend credence to it.
And here's my final thought: Remember the Democratic primary contests? When Obama was still the underdog, his troops were working harder and more "fired up and ready to go." It was after his 11-state winning streak in February that Senator Clinton got to play the underdog and made quite the ride of it, even though the math was insurmountable for her ever since she had lost Wisconsin and Hawaii on February 19. A lot of us knew that Obama had the nomination in the bag way back then, and, frankly, the grassroots just wasn't working as hard and began to rest on its laurels.
Obama plays the underdog role much better than he plays the frontrunner. Those that have constructed their echo chamber as a "panic room" are mainly trying to hold up their own illusions that Obama ever was safely ahead. They fear what would happen if suddenly the conventional wisdom shifted to a belief that McCain is going to win.
My own sense is counterintuitive: Let's have a month or two when people think McCain's got the upper hand, just like they thought that Clinton had the upper hand in January and early February. That's what it took for Obama's volunteers to work harder and donate more: February was his single greatest fundraising month, and the day after losing New Hampshire marked his single greatest fundraising date. Likewise, Clinton had better fundraising in the later months when she was perceived to be the underdog, too.
I'm not sure we'll get that, by the way. My greater sense is that the polls will remain neck-and-neck straight through to a nail-biting finish (but I'll be watching to see which pollsters adjust their demographic estimates based on new voter registrations among key groups: the rest will simply be offering chaffe).
Will the tigheness now in the election cause increased participation? Did the Obama campaign intend for this all along?