I started to write a diary a couple of days ago about how frustrated I am with the Obama campaign in Ohio, but put it off because I hesitated to write my first diary.
But Paul Hackett laid it on the line. And I want to support what he said, and I would like to add my own observations and frustrations to follow up on his diary.
I live in the Dayton TV media market, in a small town, in John Boehner’s Congressional district. (That ought to say a lot.)
I just talked to another Obama supporter who said she was going to turn off the TV because it is so frustrating to watch what is happening.
I see 8 to 10 McCain TV ads for every 1 or 2 Obama ones. And the McCain ads are mean. And tough. And relentless. They are lies that are being repeated over and over and over, without any real response from the Obama campaign. They run on all the channels, local and cable, at all times of the day and night.
The Obama ads are soft, squishy ads that don’t address the tough issues or the lies, and most certainly don’t go after McCain. They are easy to ignore! These are the kinds of ads that could have run months ago, but not the tough, serious ads we need NOW.
McCain’s ads are mean and you can’t ignore them. And related groups, like the “Black Republicans 08” group have ads are the worst: they are calling Obama a supporter of infanticide. Infanticide! These are devastating ads.
And where is the response?
When a campaign can run ads like that essentially unopposed, and with as high a McCain to Obama ratio as I have seen, the poll numbers are most certainly going to move as they have in McCain’s direction. People will believe those ads, and the lack of direct, hard response will allow those LIVs and other lazy voters to believe the worst.
We need tough, honest ads and we need them running now, and every bit as often as the McCain ones are.
I don’t care if this is “Boehner country.” This area is shifting. I felt it 4 years ago. There was a group then called “Republicans for Kerry” that paid to have their own signs made up at a local print shop.
I feel it even more now. We can get enough votes in this area that with the high Democratic numbers around Columbus and Cleveland that we can WIN this state. And do it with a comfortable margin.
But we can’t do it if the Obama campaign won’t run enough ads and strong ads, and in all the media markets in the state.
The Obama campaign has money—why aren’t we seeing those kinds and numbers of ads in this part of Ohio? Why is the campaign allowing the Dayton market to be saturated with nasty McCain ads?
And if the Obama campaign won’t do it, then turn all of the other groups and 527s like “Vote Vets” and “Defenders of the Wildlife” loose. I will donate to them as I did to the wild life group this afternoon for their new ad against Palin.
And we’ll get the TV ads we need running in this area! We can move the poll numbers back, but we need those ads and we need the numbers of ads and we need them NOW.
Early voting in Ohio starts September 30.
We need those ads NOW!