Election 2008: It All Came Down To Thirty Minutes

I watch the usually reliable Battleground Tracking Poll, which now has McCain down by 5 - 49 to 44. Not long ago, he was up by two. For now, the McCain collapse is real and it all started with his terrible thirty or so opening minutes of the first Presidential debate. If nothing changes, those are the thirty minutes pundits will, or should be going on about when wrapping up Election 2008.

It was as inept a performance as I can recall in a Presidential debate. I remarked at the time that Obama was set up perfectly on the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac / Economy issues but for whatever reason McCain simply didn't attack. It was brutal. See here and here for a pre and post debate view.

Tonight can only be a game changer in the sense that it might stop McCain's slide. But ultimately VP picks do not win or lose Presidential races outright. Palin can stop the bleeding for the McCain campaign but the damage that's been done will have to be repaired by McCain himself.

From a purely political perspective, McCain needs the Wall Street legislation passed quickly and to hope that something besides the economy begins to dominate the news cycles. Don't look for the media to help him out on that one. They will be writing stories on the dread and woe of American finance and economics just as long as they can. It helps their candidate and they know it.

If there's any good news in all of this, it's that things can turn on a dime in Election 2008. And Barack Obama still has not closed the deal. I suspect experience and race are the major factors there.

For McCain to win, Palin needs to hold her own tonight and starting almost immediately after that this election needs to be all about Barack Obama. If McCain wants to win he is going to have to take him down and probably very hard. And yes, I am talking about Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and anything else that might be lurking in Obama's past.

You might recall that McCain was ruthless with Romney when he needed to be in the Primary. He refused to back-off a charge over comments he made about Romney having been soft on the surge. Romney fans were livid but it helped McCain do away with Romney.

Whether McCain wants to be President bad enough to take Obama down I don't know. But if he wants it, that's precisely what he has to do. For now I doubt anything else will work. In at least one sense, he'll be justified as doing the work the media simply will not do.

Comments

[joeb]

Seems strange to me that the economic problems are occurring right at election time. If I was a conspircy theory type I would say it is a vast left wing conspircy. Is anyone looking at that possibility? Did the Democrats arrange this need for a bailout of Wall Street. Take note of Orwellian language now being used by Wash. Post and others. The "bailout" has now become "the resuce plan"/ Changing the words again. Uh oh another pig with lipstick.

[joeb]

Wish I could edit these typos I make. Make that "Rescue plan" in the post above.

[chris]

Sarah Palin is starting to make your idiot leader look smart.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/02/ec.cbs.interview.cnn

Joesixpack 4eva!

[AJ Lynch]

If McCain is unwilling to get down in the dirt and blast all Dems especially Obama, Pelosi, Reid, ACORN, Barney Frank, etc. and if McCain wants to maintain a "senator's decorum", he will lose badly.

McCain has to take the gloves off.

[chris]

Poor old McCain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW-9zA0x5Sg

He can't even find his way offstage.

[bluesngr]

Well, thirty minutes, an erratic week, and a controversial choice of running mate. The thirty minute theory seems more than an over-simplification.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Which is why, Chris, the Obama campaign is endorsing and supporting voter fraud -- such as in Ohio, where the Obama-supporting secretary of state is openly violating the law by allowing people to register and vote on the same day, and is excluding poll observers, which is prohibited by law.

[chris]

What a travesty! Letting those colored folk vote and whatnot.

Remember, as the courageous and eminently qualified Sarah Palin once said "It's all about job creation".

Amen.

[Teleprompter Messiah]

I disagree, those thirty minutes weren't viewed by the majority of the country. What has hurt McCain is the campaign suspension deal. He wanted to make a bold statement about leadership and patriotism. Instead, he made a statement that he was supportive of a policy that the vast majority of Americans hate. Obama gets a pass because he didn't tack his flag to the mast on this one and he didn't pretend he was in charge of anything.

Obama only rises in the polls if he portrays himself as a moderate. He has no record like Biden where you can tag him on particular votes. He does though have writings and associations which show his true temperment and ideology. If Team McCain can't figure out a way to tag Obama for what he is in this center-right country, he deserves to lose. People may want change, but not the change Obama really represents.

[Stephen Halsey]

We are long past the point of McCain taking the gloves off. I simply don't think he has it in him. I'm not sure what he's afraid off. He's already lost the black vote so why worry about offending if you bring up Wright and Farrakhan, et al? I think there are still enough votes out there to win...people who are normal, everyday Americans who may not follow this as closely as we do. People that would be scared to death to know of Obama's past and current associations with terrorists, with racist preachers and with community groups that promote 'equality' through racist and scare tactics. And this hasn't even scratched the surface on policy issues such as nationalized health care, raising taxes, dismantling our military, plans for a national civilian defense force, universal early childhood education, errr. indoctrination and all of this other serious Marxism he has planned. I just can't believe we haven't seen a blizzard of ads spelling all of this out for the American people. And if we haven't by now, then we won't. McCain is a fine American who has served his country with distinction, but he's Senator material (not Presidential) which comes with all of the formality and collegiality of the Senate. He's not shown to me that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win and save this country from as frightening a person that's ever run for office.

[Teleprompter Messiah]

Chris: It was the Democrat party who always had a concern about those colored folk voting. The '64 Voting Rights Act was enacted to override the segregationist Democrat dominated states. Lynching, Jim Crow and Hate are the policies for which the Democrat Party needs to atone.

There can be no greater evil in a democracy than fraud in the voting process. Of course, the Democrat Party is the most skilled practitioner of that black art. That anyone could defend something that destroys the legitimacy of representative government shows how much of a fool you are.

[chris]

How can registering US citizens to vote be fraud? Wait - could it possibly be that they may not all vote for that pathetic little old man and his brilliant running mate??

No, that couldn't be it.

Again, to quote the great orator and stateswoman from Alaska

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It's just right over the border."

[Teleprompter Messiah]

Registering and "casting a ballot" on the same day? How could that ever be abused? If one really believes in democracy and representive government, one doesn't create opportunities for fraud, one minimizes them.

Chris, I don't care who you vote for, but if I don't believe in the vote being true, I don't believe in the winner. I'm big enough to lose in a fair fight, just not a crooked one.

Praytell, why is something so fundamental treated so cavalierly? Gaming the electoral process destroys democracy and corrupts government. Show me someone afraid to have the election process be clean and I'll show you a rogue.

[Lala]

Another Youtube for your enjoyment -

http://verticalblu.com/

[chris]

How's it crooked to empower some of the disenfranchised to vote?? These aren't dead people or made up names or anything. It's legit.

[Fred Beloit]

It's illegit if there is a law against it in Ohio, which I believe there is. BTW chris/Boob, which part did you play in the vid Lala linked to? Thought I saw you in there somewhere. Were you the guy with the plaid shirt, the horizontal striped pants, and the pork pie hat (a symbol of your party perhaps)?

[Teleprompter Messiah]

I have no problem with these "disenfranchised" voters "casting their ballots" on election day with proper id presented.

I'm sure we can count on these folks also showing up for jury duty when their names get chosen...

[Lala]

To Vote in New York State

TO REGISTER YOU MUST:
• Be a U.S. citizen.
• Be 18 years old by December 31 of the year in which you
file this form. (Note: You must be 18 years old by the date
of the general, primary or other election in which you want
to vote.)
• Live at your present address for at least 30 days before
an election.
• Not be in jail or on parole for a felony conviction.
• Not claim the right to vote elsewhere

Does Ohio not have a 30-day requirement to live at a specific address?

Why are some districts in Ohio turning away poll watchers, as has been reported?

Is any check being made with regard to out-of-state college students as to whether they are voting absentee in their home states?

[Democrat]

You people just don't "understand" the "big picture". It's much more important to "empower" the voter than it is to worry about fraud. Besides, Bush stole two elections, why can't we steal this one? And that's what we're gonna do, win this election hook or crook. Get over it.

[seekeronos]

"--- If McCain wants to win he is going to have to take him down and probably very hard. And yes, I am talking about Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and anything else that might be lurking in Obama's past. ---"

I am sincerely beginning to think that McCain simply doesn't want to win: he has at some point, becoming as much of a stalking horse for Obama as Fred Thompson was for McCain in the early stages of the primaries.

It makes no sense for McCain to be holding back, unless he has the CFR or Bush on speed dial to suddenly cause something bad to happen in Iran or perhaps even between us and the Russians -- because I hardly think nothing short of a really nasty October Surprise is going to get McCain's numbers out of the toilet.

Deals may have been made, perhaps, for a lighter grade of socialism in exchange for McCain throwing the election.

And if that is the case, then whatever promises Obama and his handlers made - then McCain can rest assured that those promises will be as worthless as the stock price of Fannie and Freddie come 20 January 2009.

If my reasoning is correct... then may God have mercy upon us until 2012.

[seekeronos]

"--- You people just don't "understand" the "big picture". It's much more important to "empower" the voter than it is to worry about fraud. Besides, Bush stole two elections, why can't we steal this one? And that's what we're gonna do, win this election hook or crook. Get over it. ---"

Democrat, pardon me for being blunt... but it really doesn't matter what you think. The two parties are nothing more than an illusion, two heads of the same tyrannical beast.

But folks like you, Bob, LOL, Worst, and so many other Kos-tards really don't giving a flying flip about America anyway. You'll not be happy until you see this country either broken up or reduced to a third-world status.

You don't know anything about liberty and freedom, nor do you care to know what it was like.

All you care about is the free bread, government cheese, and the circuses (the media) --- and even that shall be taken away from you soon and unexpectedly so.

Therefore, I bestow upon you that ironic blessing:

"You shall live in interesting times indeed".

[seekeronos]

"--- How's it crooked to empower some of the disenfranchised to vote?? These aren't dead people or made up names or anything. It's legit. ---"

And you expect us to believe you?

What is to keep one shiftless bum from registering as "Bob S." and vote the same day in one precinct, and then as "Chris Thizzle" right across town? If he happens to be particularly industrious that day, that shiftless bum might be able to register AND vote in six or seven different precincts.

In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

[Lala]

Some years ago the school board/taxes vote count in my town was more nays than ayes until they counted the absentee ballots which came from the many nursing homes in the area. The ayes won, taxes went up. It seems that the owners of the nursing homes were "helping" the residents fill out their ballots. There was an investigation. Now, no nursing home resident gets "help" from anyone and there are two observers, one from each party, watching. Since this reform the ruling party of the town has been changed three times.

[Lala]

Nixon vs Kennedy -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A36425-2000Nov16?language=printer

In Texas, Kennedy's 46,000-vote margin was the closest statewide race there since 1948, when Kennedy's running mate, Lyndon B. Johnson, won a Senate seat by 87 votes (the origin of the nickname "Landslide Lyndon"). Morton's operatives, aided by local Republicans, uncovered plenty of political chicanery. For instance: In Fannin County, which had 4,895 registered voters, 6,138 votes were cast, three-quarters of them for Kennedy. In one precinct of Angelia County, 86 people voted and the final tally was 147 for Kennedy, 24 for Nixon.

On and on it went. The Republicans demanded a recount, claiming that it would give them 100,000 votes and victory. John Connally, the state Democratic chairman, said the Republicans were just "haggling for headlines" and predicted that a recount would give Kennedy another 50,000 votes.

But there was no recount. The Texas Election Board, composed entirely of Democrats, had already certified Kennedy as the winner.

In Chicago, where Kennedy won by more than 450,000 votes, local reporters uncovered so many stories of electoral shenanigans--including voting by the dead--that the Chicago Tribune concluded that "the election of November 8 was characterized by such gross and palpable fraud as to justify the conclusion that [Nixon] was deprived of victory."

[mary]

Someone who saw the Nixon/Kennedy debate said Nixon looked a mess, disheveled and he had no make up on and that Kennedy looked handsome and sharp and had make up on. She said a lot of people decided on Kennedy that night. Love living history.

[seekeronos]

"--- Someone who saw the Nixon/Kennedy debate said Nixon looked a mess, disheveled and he had no make up on and that Kennedy looked handsome and sharp and had make up on. She said a lot of people decided on Kennedy that night. Love living history. ---"

Such is the basic shallowness of the typical voter.

[mj]

The collapse wasn't caused by the debate. The financial crisis was the catalyst. The Democratic message "we'll take care of you" is more appealing when voters are scared.