An interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal says that the Obama-Biden campaign schedule in swing states has been much more vigorous than the McCain-Palin ticket and may account for their lead there. Of course, the WSJ might want to also consider that the Dems have better candidates than the Republicans but anyway...
Here's the money quote:
Sen. Barack Obama, his running mate and his wife have appeared at twice as many events in swing states as their Republican counterparts, which may help explain the Democrat's lead in many battleground-state polls.
In the five weeks since the fall campaign officially began, Sen. Obama, his wife, Michelle, and vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden have appeared at a total of 95 separate events in states that both sides are contesting.
http://online.wsj.com/...
Part of the disparity is that McCain likes to take weekends off, something that as president may be a bit more difficult. Also, Cindy McCain almost never has her own events traveling constantly with her husband instead.
Michelle Obama has held many solo events in key states. Also, Sarah Palin has spent a lot of time prepping for her debate, site-seeing in New York City and holding joint events with McCain.
Imagine what the disparity would be if Joe Biden had not missed four days of campaigning due to his mother-in-law's death.
The article makes the point that personal candidate visits draw local coverage which is even more important than national coverage.
"local press is the name of the game," said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican political consultant. "That's what drives votes. That's what helps undecideds move your way."
Looks like the Obama-Biden campaign knows exactly what it is doing and we are seeing the benefits of it in poll after poll in the swing states!