McCain Resorting to Desparate Measures???

With only a few days away, and the majority of the polls in favor of Obama, McCain finds himself shaking in his boots. Just a few points ahead of Obama in his home state, McCain resorts to the desperate measure of "Robo-Calling". But isn't Robo-Calling illegal in California? McCain's campaign found a way around that. Instead of calling voters with a person, they manipulated the system to have a computer machine issue out the calls instead. By any means necessary is the new motto McCain's campaign is being forced to adhere to in this desperate and challenging time. Will this be enough for McCain to pull in last minute votes to win this fight?

Obama's Infomercial

Barack Obama's presidential campaign spent an estimated $3 million on a 30-minute primetime TV ad on NBC, CBS, and MSNBC today. A presidential campaign ad of this length has not aired on primetime since Ross Perot in 1992. The commercial centered around Obama's biography, policy proposals, and stories about average Americans (full video below).

The question is, how effective was the ad? My initial thought is that most people who bothered to watch the whole thing were probably already supporters, but numbers have yet to be released on how many people actually tuned in.

Television Still Important Factor In Campaign Season

Like the silent film or vinyl record, newspapers might soon become a thing of the past, reserved only for purists who seek them out specifically. Despite the decline of news in print largely as a result of online publishing, most believe that this election season has been defined more by the television than the always increasing power of the internet. While it can be argued that the internet's role in the 2008 campaign season has been crucial thanks to websites like youtube.com, its most powerful material has been clips from the small screen. As a result of candidates television appearances, debates, and subsequent spoofs, The LA Times (and many others, for that matter) that "Not since the Kennedy-Nixon race has television played such a significant role in a presidential election." What the world wide web has done is make it so that television's best moments are archived and accessible to all those searching for them. It's hard for candidates to escape things they might have regretably said or done when it's available right at the constituent's fingertips.

If the Alaskans Don't Trust Her, Who Can?

Recently, Alaska's most popular and read news paper, Anchorage Daily News, announced their endorsement of Obama. Editors reported that although they were proud of their governor for the nomination, she is not ready to be so close to presidency.

The BBC explained that employees of the Anchorage Daily News support Obama and not McCain because McCain has "stumbled and fumbled badly" when it comes to working out the country's failing economy. On the other hand they claim that the democratic nominee appears to have a detailed plan and is ready to enforce it calmly and take charge.

It will be interesting to see if Alaska's doubt in their own governor will have an impact of voters.

If citizens of her own state do not support her, who will?

What Happened To McCain?

In a recent opinion article posted on the Washington Post website, Anne Applebaum describes a phenomenon that seems to have affect many independent voters. McCain's political history has been one of bipartisanship, foreign policy expertise, and addressing confrontational issues. This record of reason brought him lots of support from the independent and non-aligned voters. However, why then, as Applebaum questions, has he "let his campaign appeal to his party's extremes?" Instead of remaining true to his ideals, the new McCain has "moved away from his previous positions on torture and immigration," allowed his campaign to capitalize on fear and international ignorance, and has appointed Palin as his running mate, a clear "concession to those Republicans who think foreign policy can be conducted using a series of cliches and those in his party who shout down the federal government while quietly raking in federal subsidies." These moves have obviously affected his more moderate supporters. So as the election winds down, the question remains: what happened to the maverick McCain?

Is Unbiased Cable News Still Possible?

Jon Stewart interviewed Campbell Brown last night about her new show "No Bias, No Bull."

Voting Dilemma

In an NPR post titled “Are Americans Ready to Shift from Traditional Vote?” Michel Martin illustrated the importance of “the identity of Americans,” showing how people are influenced by their perceived “traditional voting roles.” Martin raised the question of whether voters are going to think critically in this election, or whether they will conform to social expectations. People’s political views are going to be influenced by their interactions with society and the mainstream media, and their abilities to be neutral are challenged by their environment. At the same time, a person may need access to a variety of resources in order to form a balanced outlook about the presidential candidates. The difficulty is in organizing the available information and getting a clear picture of the election. Our discussion about the effect of the media shows that in some respect, people have not been receiving the coverage that would allow them to stay in tune with the presidential race in a responsible manner. Think about the recent hype about "Sarah Palin’s wardrobe," or that Obama is a "socialist." Today, Senator Barack Obama reiterated ‘“In one week…”’ His “speech” pointed to the reality of next week’s election. The votes will soon be counted, but there is still time to pause and ask ourselves what the candidates are really telling us, and what we need to do to make an informed decision.

Obama Fighting Back with One Week to Spare

Obama voices his last minutes thoughts on the turn of events of this campaign in addition to McCain's faults and weaknesses. He argues that McCain has a weak economic agenda, and therefore, because McCain does not want to be the second runner up in the election, McCain resorts to bashing Obama's name. As unfortunate as it may be, however, Obama has maintained his composure and even goes as far to say that he, in comparison with selfish senator John McCain cares about the people more than losing the election. This shows the compassion of Obama in commparison with the old and cold McCain. Now the question of if compassion will be enough to win the upcoming election arises.

The World Wants...

It is no secret that many in the United Nations and the rest of the world are crossing their fingers for an Obama victory this election. Naturally as a Republican ( a moderate one so please don't bite my head off), I have some disdain for the UN and its inability to get things done. Now that doesnt mean that I don't have respect for the fundamentals of the UN and its purpose, and of course I'm for multilateralism. But what I am definitely for first is America, and while I don't wholeheartedly support the Iraq War or current administration, sometimes I do believe that this nation is forced to do things that are unpopular with the rest of the world. Don't want to sound like a pessimist or too pragmatic, but the reality is that if we don't do some of these things, other nations with worse agendas than our own are going to go ahead and do them. If Obama wins (and it certainly looks that way even if John McCain has something to say about that) I sincerely hope that he will fulfill the hopes of the rest of the world, but not before he watches over the interest of America first. 

The X Factor on Election Day

As the mainstream media pours over the latest polling numbers and debates the magnitude of Barack Obama's lead, they pay little attention to a key factor that will likely determine the outcome in many key swing states: the ground game. Polling data gives a decent account of whom Americans support while sitting on their couch at home, but elections are determined by which citizens are motivated enough to get off their couches and into the polling booth on election day. Anyone who has worked on political campaigns can attest to the fact that turnout is largely effected by which campaign has the field operation in place to remind the greatest number of their supporters to get out and vote.

The difficulty in reporting the strength of the field operations of each campaign is obvious. Campaigns don't release public data on how many volunteers they have, which leaves pundits and anchors pontificating on the impact that get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activity will have. However, there are a few things the media does know. In Colorado, the Obama campaign has 50 offices in the state, compared to 12 for McCain. The number of campaign offices and field staffers that each campaign has does provide a useful metric in judging the magnitude of each campaign's field program, and the Obama campaign leads in both of these categories.

What impact will the ground game have on the final outcome of the election? We will know the answer on election night if the results don't reflect what the polls predict.