Archive for September, 2008

PACs Pick Up The Pace

September 30th, 2008 by Lisa Stauber

John McCain was a major player in campaign finance reform. The McCain-Feingold Act, ironically, is coming back to haunt him. Political Action Committees (PACs) are allowed under the new regulations, provided that the committees do not coordinate with any campaign receiving federal funds. There are no limits as to how much a PAC can spend, and their messages tend to be much edgier than a candidate would allow.


Recently, several PACs entered the campaign in a nasty way. First up was new organization, BornAliveTruth.org. Gianna Jessen is an abortion survivor and now, at age 31, speaks out as part

The Reason Democrats Keep Losing Losing Elections

September 24th, 2008 by Chris
Clive Crook of the Financial Times and the Atlantic Monthly nails it on the head:

Democrats speak up for the less prosperous; they have well-intentioned policies to help them; they are disturbed by inequality, and want to do something about it. Their concern is real and admirable. The trouble is, they lack respect for the objects of their solicitude. Their sympathy comes mixed with disdain, and even contempt.

Democrats regard their policies as self-evidently in the interests of the US working and middle classes. Yet those wide segments of US society

The Calm Before the Storm

September 23rd, 2008 by Lisa Stauber

The last week has been a big one for catastrophists, with the market meltdown decimating Wall Street and Hurricane Ike sweeping through flyover country. The campaigns, however, seem to have backed off.



McCain’s nomination of Sarah Palin electrified bored Republicans and fired up the Democrats, but the energy seems spent now. It seems both campaigns are sitting back and gathering their strength for a real war of words to come as the debates approach.



And that war is coming, make no mistake! Both the Democrats and Republicans are partially responsible for the mess in the stock market.

What McCain Must Do to Win

September 17th, 2008 by Chris
Two weeks after the Sarah Palin nomination shook up the presidential race, we seem to be settling into a new campaign narrative, one which should deeply concern John McCain and his advisors.

Below is a screen capture of the most popular stories on the New York Times website. I grabbed it today, September 14:



Nine of the ten most popular stories concern the election. All of them are critical of the McCain campaign.

You can find a similar narrative playing out on McCain's favorite network, MSNBC, which ran this article entitled, "Wheels Come

What Obama Must Do to Win

September 17th, 2008 by Chris
After a disastrous two weeks following the Palin announcement, Obama's campaign finally seems to be recovering from the shock and fully recognizes the value Sarah Palin brings to the McCain campaign.

As I've mentioned before, Obama's strengths in the "ground war" of voter turnout make a McCain victory in November unlikely. But McCain could still win the "air war"; here's what Obama needs to do to prevent that from happening.

First, he needs to shift away from what has been his primary line of attack: That John McCain represents a continuation of George W. Bush. Try as his aides and
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