A Big Close

The Obama campaign has just announced something I can’t recall seeing at the close of a campaign: a two-minute ad (you can see it here), which it says will be running in “key states” starting tomorrow. It’s unusual in part because few campaigns find themselves having the resources for two-minute spots at the end of a long and expensive fight. But the tone–specific and serious–also represents a signal to voters of the political terrain that Obama intends to occupy in the final 10 days of this race. It will be interesting to see if the McCain campaign responds in kind.

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  • trifecta

    It’s a good ad. I suspect that one 2 minute ad now beats 4 30 second spots as well. McCain would be wise to consider it even with his limited resources.
    Flooding the market is not going to be as effective as enough time to coherently lay out a message.

  • Paul-no not that one

    McCain rolled out his new ad yesterday, no?
    Cut shots of scary people with Biden saying we will be tested in the first 6 months.
    McCain and the republicans have played one card for 7 years, to think he and they would change in the last 10 days is folly.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Adding, I think voters are responding to being addressed as adults whether they completely agree with BHO or not.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I wish he had run this video instead.

  • Paul-no not that one

    KT- what triggers this?
    “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

  • sherala

    It is either terribly ironic or prophetic that when you attempt to log on at realclearpolitics it politely tells you “Sorry, what you are looking for can not be found”. Because…I want me some. Real clear politics that is.

  • ktumulty

    KT here–

    P-NNTO: Hell if I know…

  • sgwhiteinfla

    They just pointed out on MSNBC that President Clinton released a 2 minute add shortly before the election in 1992 that focused on his biography and the future. I think this video is just another contrast between the froth at the mouth campaign of McCain and the steady calm leadership of Obama. I think Obama and his campaign love poking sticks at McCain so he can keep being the angry guy with angry rhetoric no matter how many times he smiles. Obama’s campaign is just superior to McCain’s in every way.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Considering the fact that I cussed several times last night in a post and was not moderated I am wondering if it depends on the wordpress account or something. I signed up again last night but my profile is bare bones. Nothing but the info needed to sign in. Let me try again Fuhk the HIGH SHERRIFFS!

  • Paul-no not that one

    Ha KT I guess not the word Hell

  • Paul-no not that one

    Wow I laughed and used the word KT used and –
    “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

    This is really sad.

  • cedarflute

    It is almost spellbinding to witness the difference in the two campaigns.

    Obama’s ads = thoughtful, useful, intelligent, direct, calm, caring, compassionate, etc. What we need to know and think about.

    McCain’s ads = angry and empty

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Blocked here?

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    No. Just in the Joe the Congressman thread.

    I think this is preview of the Wed night long ad. The arc has been clear all through the general election campaign-the portrayal as Obama as a steady, serious, knowledgeable leader.

    The contrast with the flailing, desperate McCain couldn’t be starker or more effective.

  • nibblybits

    Finally…it’s such a relief to finally have a lucid thoughtful grownup in this race.
    Nov 4 can’t come fast enough. Let’s get this over with so that we can finally start solving our problems.

  • 53dash3

    I think some comments are blocked. There’s actually more than 240 in the Joe the Congressman queue.
    .
    I’m guessing the non-appearance of the trolls is part of the landscape, and I don’t like it.
    .
    I may argue with them, but I think that they should be allowed to post. I’ve only seen a few times where they’ve gone over the line.

  • Paul-no not that one

    I’m guessing the non-appearance of the trolls is part of the landscape, and I don’t like it

    Anything to win a bet,53_3? :)

  • 53dash3

    I compared GOPers to diahhrea spew in the crudest possible terms, and that got through.
    .
    Then, I said something about the McCain/Palin hate rhetoric, and poof!
    .
    “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

  • trifecta

    A local newscaster in Orlando talks to Joe Biden.

    http://www.wftv.com/video/17790025/index.html

    For some shocking reason, the Obama/Biden team cancelled a Jill Biden interview with the same “reporter” after this.

  • 53dash3

    PNNTO;
    .
    No, I want to lose that bet!
    .
    It will just be a lot less exciting if we don’t have the likes of sobrien to pick on!

  • stillkathy

    pnnto – how did you get spaces and a hyphen in your username? WordPress would not let me do either, so I had to get yet another name.

    This feels a bit like we’re reassembling after an earthquake.

    Jayack – thanks for giving us a backup. I was out and didn’t take advantage of it, but I appreciate the effort, and will know where to go another time.
    -Kathy

  • ivb3016

    Karen,
    I know we fussed at you during the primary for all the money talk, but now I am really curious about it and would appreciate any enlightenment from you.
    .
    The Phila Inq in a story on 10-21 quoted the McCain campaign that they had $47 million in cash on hand at the beginning of October out of $84 million received in September. On a local NPR program 10/24 someone from the Center for Responsive Politics said McCain has spent $63 million on broadcast media so far. This didn’t add up to me so I went the the web page for CRP and found even more confusing stuff.
    .
    http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?id=N00006424&cycle2=2008&goButt2.x=11&goButt2.y=10
    .
    There is a box that lets you toggle to Obama expenditures. These are both supposed to be as of the end of September.
    .
    I understand that they can raise money for compliance, legal fees, etc., but $194,000,000?
    .
    Thanks

  • Paul-no not that one

    So it appears comments go into purgatory not for foul language but for political content.
    On a political blog called Swampland.
    I miss irony.

  • Friar Tuck

    Oy! I’m a trained paleographer (ancient documents in ancient languages on badly-preserved media), but that doesn’t mean I actually PREFER to read the unreadable. This format is really the limit. I want my boxes back!
    .
    I will also miss the profanity – it was quaint – and the ability to put white space in the comments.
    .
    I was for progress before I was against it.

  • mrreallyniceguy

    Frankly, we’re all – well, mostly – adults, here, so why the fuss about the language? If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read this page.
    _
    Anyway, it’s interesting that we now get a “freebie” ad for Obama. All along, Mikey S. has been giving McCain freebies and Obama, in comparison, got no love at all. Is this the writing on the wall?
    _
    Can’t wait to see the Repugs implode and go hostile on each other. I do hope someone records it all for posterity.
    _
    OT: I propose that the High Sheriffs hire Jay to fix the site.

  • stillkathy

    that’s odd. my comment #19 says stillkathy says: your comment is awaiting moderation, as if I typed it in. and yet it appeared to me like my comment came online without moderation. this is bizarre. -kathy

  • tbetz

    McCain won’t respond in-kind, because he CAN’T respond in-kind.

    He doesn’t have the money for such a big advertising buy. He’s stuck filling the time he’s already bought with the same lousy ads he’s been running right along, and continuing the cheap (both in cost and content) campaign of robocalls, hoping to arouse the fearful white racist vote.

  • trifecta

    I think that there has to be a tech wizard who can fix this thing. Maybe in 10 days, Time can hire somebody from team Obama. They know code there.

  • stillkathy

    I notice there’s no time on KT’s post, either. just says the date.
    .
    I had a seriously hard time without this blog yesterday. This is a big inconvenience ten days before the election. sigh. -kathy

  • 53dash3

    Yeah this “moderation” bussiness sucks very large geological features, I hope they change it.
    .
    I noted in that ad that the bar was lowered from $250,000 / year to $200,000 / year, which I think is driven by the reality that these bailouts need to be paid for.
    .
    It’s not really interesting as such, KT, but more predictable. McCain is going to attack it and attack hard. He’s pulling his money out because he’s going to double team with FOX in the last days of the election.
    .
    And Obama, I’m pretty sure, is getting ready to counter. I’m betting we get a flood of ads from both sides in that last week…

  • Friar Tuck

    I’m in moderation because I said something bad about the format?

    C’mon!

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    What I find the most reassuring isn’t that Obama is presenting himeself as serious and sober in contrast to the mouth-foaming that McCain’s abetting and encouraging, it’s that it appears to be working.
    Ever since Karl Rove spewed his “therapy and understanding” line, I’ve been waiting patiently for the American people to realize that the Republican playbook is utterly devoid of anything constructive to contribute to the Country.

    It appears that they’re finally catching on.

  • Friar Tuck

    I even used my “inside voice.”

  • Paul-no not that one

    The timing and execution of this “scheduled maintenance” leads me to think it was neither.

  • http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

    Hey, Obama did what Paul Dirks is always urging him to do– connect Iraq spending to the US economy.

    tbetz, McCain can’t do this because he doesn’t have the money, nor does he have any plans. He just has his baseless bravado and self-confidence.

    http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/benen/102154/mccain's_'head-knocking_style_of_governance'/

  • stillkathy

    I don’t have audio at the moment on my computer (cat ate the speaker cords) so I really appreciated having the plan spelled out on the screen . It’s been hard watching so many McCain ads the last few days – unanswered. He’s had them on the Boston cable channels, New England Cable News and New England Sports Network, which are part of my cable package in Vermont. Presumably McCain is targeting New Hampshire, and it interests me that Obama hasn’t been answering.

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks
  • 53dash3

    FriarTuck:
    .
    Go look at the Joe the Congressman thread. I compared GOPers’ to diahhrea spew in pretty crude terms, then my reply to PNNTO about our bet, which was pretty innocuous, got moderated.
    .
    Go figure…

  • Friar Tuck

    I used the word “paleographer” – maybe that did it?

  • ktumulty

    KT here–

    Let me go and look at what’s in moderation. If I can figure out how to do that.

  • 53dash3

    I think that McCain withdrew from those states not only to focus on playing for the electoral vote, but to have some in the coffers for a FOX double-team Swiftboat effort in the last days of the campaign season.
    .
    I’ll take bets…

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks
  • Friar Tuck

    I also mentioned that I missed the profanity – it was quaint.

  • ivb3016

    Kathy, I think that was my comment 19 that had that message. Happened to me last night as well. Odd.
    .
    Living in PA we are getting many, many McCain ads. Heard someone say that he thinks he can flip the suburban woman around Philadelphia. Except for the dyed in the wool Repubs, every woman I know was cemented against him by the Palin pick.

  • stillkathy

    53-3 – I think the difference is that he says those under $200,000 will get a tax cut, and only those over $250,000 will get a tax increase. That might be consistent with what he’s been saying, which is “nobody making less than $250,000 will see their taxes go up.”
    -
    Pnnto – I really am curious about the hyphen bit. Did the wordpress just accept it as you typed it in? Or were you already in wordpress?
    -
    My comments are appearing instantly, so I can’t see how they’re being moderated – even that bizarre entry at 19, which adds “your comment is awaiting moderation” to my comment.
    -kathy

  • gysgt213

    “It will be interesting to see if the McCain campaign responds in kind.”

    KT,

    Huh? How if the world is that going to happen? They don’t have the money, message or candidate to deliever it.

    This is like saying the gray wolf has a made a come back. It will be interesting to see if dinosures do the same.

  • Paul-no not that one

    KT comes out of this like a pro. As usual.

  • 53dash3

    FriarTuck:
    .
    You mean paleographer as in like, Gondawana and Pangea and paleogeography stuff like that?
    .
    Is the moderator anti-intellectual as well?
    .
    Hmmmm. May the moderator suffer from paleogeomagnetic anomolies that truly scew up his hypothesis!

  • Friar Tuck

    Hey – my comment 19 is in moderation! It’s the new number of the Beast!

  • Paul-no not that one

    Kathy, look at the thread below. Paul Dirks has instruction on how to set your name.

  • stillkathy

    ivb – Um – what do you mean it was your comment 19? Are we all seeing the same thing?? My comment 19 on this thread is a comment of mine. your comment that i’m responding to is 37, and then one of mine is 38 again. That what you got too? -kathy

  • mrreallyniceguy

    At the grocery check-out, this morning, the young clerk – I’d guess early 20′s – had an Obama button on her smock. It was probably in violation of company policy, but I was impressed that she cared enough to wear it.

    Also impressive was the recent Ron Howard video, in which he resurrected a couple of classic characters. As he said, desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s good to know that others also realize that 8 years of Bush / Repug leadership have left us in these desperate straits.

  • 53dash3

    I don’t see your comment at postion 19. PNNTO has that position. Those awaiting moderation don’t appear to the rest of us, it seems.
    .
    This is gonna degrade the quality and freedom of debate considerably!

  • sgwhiteinfla

    trifecta,

    I just watched that joe biden interview. He should have cussed her dumb azz out. I mean was she trying to get noticed by fixed noise or something? You have a VP candidate on your station and you ask 4 asinine questions about spreading the wealth and turning the U.S. into Sweden. I am glad he called her ridiculous but I wish he would have called her a wing nut as well.

  • stillkathy

    pnnto – thanks. will do.

  • Friar Tuck

    53_3, paleography is the study of ancient (and usually very hard-to-read) documents. My point in the “lost” post was that, although I know how to do paleography, I don’t necessarily think it’s a desirable part of the blogging experience, if you get my drift.

  • 53dash3

    FriarTuck:
    .
    You must have had potty mouth.
    .
    You are being spanked…

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Give it time everyone. Also, S H I T

  • Friar Tuck

    . . and my comment 47 is in moderation. Parentheses are causing problems?

  • Friar Tuck

    OK, all my comments are up, though not in order. Sigh. A little early for teh brandy, but in honor of this special occasion . . .

  • gysgt213

    This design is crap, is hard to read and hard to follow. Epic Fail!

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Kathy–

    Stuart, Paul D and I have put together a place to retreat when content dries up, or servers fail:

    http://politicallagoon.blogspot.com/

  • sgwhiteinfla

    I think when it comes out of moderation it gets a new number if someone else has posted something since then

  • ivb3016

    How bizarre. If we are not seeing the same thing that will really mess up discussion. Is the number 19 spot limbo?
    .
    That comment of mine was a serious question to Karen about campaign financing and numbers I saw in a couple of places that don’t make sense to me. I also linked to the Center for Responsive Politics and used their acronym in a sentence.
    .
    Yikes!

  • 53_3

    Friar:
    .
    My mistake. I inserted more than a few letters in there, subconsciously.
    .
    Testing:
    (parenthesis)
    .
    Thanks, PNNTO, got me old name back!

  • ivb3016

    Ah, well my comment got out of limbo and is now 22.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    by the way I have been cussing up a storm but have yet to see my post being in moderation. I guess it just some dumb ass new rule ;)

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Now it looks like I am blocked again.

  • mrreallyniceguy

    Along w/ pourme, I’d also like to remind all and sundry that we’re getting more than we paid for with these blogs, and I’m sure they’ll work the kinks out soon enough. I suspect sooner if they’d hire Jay, but… Let’s not go Repuglican on the High Sheriffs, here.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    ok they finally got me for cussin….lol I hope I dont get sent to the principals office

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    “Epic Fail”

    This is improvisation, PaulN. There was a crash, data was lost, and this was put up as an emergency measure. It may have been a platfrorm they were planning to migrate to, but not just before the election.

  • Friar Tuck

    Gads, listen to us – we’re debugging! Should we settle on a group consultation fee? I haven’t been able to afford a Chimay Triple Ale in a while.

  • ktumulty

    KT here–

    Okay, I went through and “liberated” the comments from awaiting moderation by hand. Except one very potty-mouthed one, and you know who you are.

    Talked to the High Sheriffs and they promised to fix. Which I hope they do soon, because the power to decide which comments will live and which will die is guaranteed to go to my head.

  • 53_3

    Take a look over on the Joe the Congressman blog.
    .
    The commentary now numbers 75, and Andy had commented, and I didn’t even know he did. We are not getting real-time commentary here any more.
    .
    This SUCKS!!!

  • http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

    Yeah, I really can’t complain too much about the problems with comments. They’re fighting through a crash, right in the middle of the election. They aren’t doing this to be funny. Hopefully it’s close to normal by the end of the weekend.

    It’d be fun if the threads were about the subject matter of the post, and not people’s efforts to post comments!

  • 53_3

    KT:
    .
    It was Cincy! I swear!

  • Paul-no not that one

    Paul-no not that one Says:
    October 25th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
    KT comes out of this like a pro. As usual.

    I stand by me earlier statement.

  • Friar Tuck

    Blessings, KT. I have no objection to you as a benevolent despot as long as you don’t forget the “benevolent” prat.

  • ktumulty

    KT here–

    53_3: I freed Joe’s comments, too. Now, I want to be greeted as a liberator.

  • Friar Tuck

    part. I meant part.

  • 53_3

    ” I haven’t been able to afford a Chimay Triple Ale in a while.”
    .
    I can ftp you one. Want an orange with that?

  • Paul-no not that one

    “be me earlier statement”?

    What am I, from County Cork?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I need some of that Palin wardrobe magic. Son’s homecoming dance threads purchased this morning and sent via cell phone photo to date: DENIED as non dress-matching! Back to Macy’s for color-matching. I wish I had a $150,000 inventory in the cargo hold.

  • Friar Tuck

    53_3 – Thanks! Next, let’s fax ourselves to Tahiti!

  • gysgt213

    I don’t know who that Barbara West Reporter lady is, but she is total right wing tool.

  • 53_3

    Of course, KT!
    .
    I guess if I’m not with you, I’m against you, right? Ok, I’m sold.
    .
    And I still think that was Cincy!

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Sure mr niceguy. They messed up, but what’s done is done, and this is a free service. They’re trying to recover from a pretty catastrophic failure. Recriminations won’t change anything, and patience will help.

  • http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

    53_3: I freed Joe’s comments, too. Now, I want to be greeted as a liberator.

    End the lawless occupation of our thread!

  • mrreallyniceguy

    53: Oh please. I haven’t even seen Cincy, yet. Man up, bucko…

    I dunno, Friar. KT may be benevolent, now, but give her a little power, and then what? Lady Galadriel had it right: better not to mess with it.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    That would be me the potty mouthed one. Hey I was just trying to see what the new parameters are. lol Hey how about this repudiation of McCains national security cred by a top Bush official?

    http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/top-bush-pentagon-appointee-rejects-key-mccain-counter-terrorism-initiative/

  • ktumulty

    KT here–

    SG: Found a comment from you in the moderation queue where you were gloating about not being in moderation, despite cussing up a storm. I liberated it. But you are totally on probation.

  • 53_3

    ” Thanks! Next, let’s fax ourselves to Tahiti!”
    .
    Too slow. Can’t wait. I’m going BitTorrent!

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    I second that. If someone is monitoring the moderation area, it’s time to stop trying to figure out what is getting moderated.

  • gysgt213

    My eyes are going cross trying to follow the conversation here. Every thing is running together. I guess I beina a WTAB, but this SUCKS EGGS!!!

  • ivb3016

    I agree, Gunny. Thanks trifecta for that link. It reminds us that there are still real wingers out there. Am impressed that Biden didn’t lose his cool.

    Only thing I wish he would have said is that he should watch the entire clip instead of the Faux News cut version. Obama’s spread the wealth comment in context — imagine that.

  • 53_3

    KT;
    .
    Can I be on probation, too? Can I? Can I?
    .
    I compared Republicans to diarrhea. Isn’t that potty mouthed enough?
    .
    BTW, I knew it was sg, all along…

  • mrreallyniceguy

    sgwhite: so it’s not just 2-year-olds that have to push their boundaries?

    pourme: wtf? Homecoming, at least in my day, didn’t require a suit. You dressed nicer than the typical weekend dance – maybe put on a tie, if you could swipe one from your dad, and figure out how to tie it – but saved the tux, corsages, etc., for the Winter Dance and the Prom.

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Work on your spelling gunny. That WATB.

    We can decamp to the politicallagoon.blogspot.com site and let them work.

    One or two of us can monitor for new posts here, and move the discussion over there.

  • ivb3016

    Fortunately I had several commitments yesterday that kept me away from my computer, but it was still serious withdrawal. Am grateful to have this back despite limitations.

  • mrreallyniceguy

    Oh, no: KT’s transformation has begun. She’s already declaring marshal law and unilaterally deciding who’s on probation. What’s next: double secret probation?

    Friends, I think we need to coordinate an intervention…

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    DEFINITELY a suit. I sent him over to Katie’s now for an actual face-to-face consult before I spend all day in the exchange line. I’m also going to slip some strips of bacon in his pockets, because what doesn’t go better with bacon?

  • sgwhiteinfla

    KT

    Thanks for letting me out of time out. I wont be trying the system anymore. I kinda figured I would get caught be cause I was gloating. Anyway i had asked a question earlier about how many people show up for Joe Biden rallys and how enthusiastic they are. Can you talk about the experience today?

  • mrreallyniceguy

    pourme: good thing I read your post _before_ taking a swig of water.

    And if his date doesn’t go so well, at least he’ll be popular with the dogs. Canines, that is.

  • kathy

    Paul D.

    Thanks so much. The funny thing is the stillkathy username would not let me edit my screen name, no matter how hard I tried, and never let me actually to through and fill in my profile before filling it in automatically. Had to reregister as a different user and finally managed to edit the screenname. This could cause mischief though….

  • 53_3

    mrreallyniceguy:
    .
    You’re talking insurgency, you know.
    .
    Get me General Patreaus on the phone…

  • jennofark

    Damn, this new format SUCKS! Fix it soon, please. Very weird – when I was going to the link I had bookmarked, I was getting only the old, pre-server crash posts – but could comment with my swampland name and password. To get to the new stuff, you have to come back in the front door.

    As I said on one of those pre-crash posts, I think it’s pretty clear what happened. A large, angry black man saw the McCain bumpersticker on Scherer’s car, and carved a backwards “B” into the intertoobs machinery here to teach all the swampers a lesson.

  • mrreallyniceguy

    s/marshal/martial/

    sorry…

  • kathy

    ivb –

    agreed. I was really annoyed with myself to find out how much I missed this place.
    .
    Am really,really annoyed that it appears the tech people lied to us. Scheduled maintenance my eye.

  • rose83

    This thread is so out of order and borderline incomprehensible it’s almost Palinesque.
    jayackroyd, going to politicallagoon.blogspot.com sounds like a great idea.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    RELAX! Think of this format as Joe Klein’s beard – sure, it’s hideous and makes you want to be sick, but with a little trim and some attention – it’ll be just fine.

  • kathy

    Karen – you really are the best. When your career comes to an end and you look back on your work I hope you’ll see your stint on this blog as one of your shining services to humanity. The people here matter to me, and in very large part you provide the glue for this community.

  • gysgt213

    “Think of this format as Joe Klein’s beard”

    I see a lot of facial pores!

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Someone said something about this earlier and now its showing up from McCain surrogates on MSNBC. I think that Barack Obama has made a major blunder in his new ad. The surrogate just said that Obama lowered the bar in his ad from 250k to 200k and soon it will be down to 42k. Now I think because of the way Obama did the ad this might actually gain some traction. From the get go Obama has said if you make less than 250k you will not see a tax increase. That is still true but he doesnt make an effort to include those words in the add. Instead he just focuses on the second thing he has always said and that is if you make less than 200k you will actually see a tax cut. For the average joe they might have thought all along that if you made less than 250k you would automatically get a tax cut but that has never been said. Its has the potential to be just confusing enough for people to think Obama is going back on his word. And the sad thing about it is THIS time I think its going to be Obama’s fault because the add doesnt mention the 250k threshold.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    niceguy: BACON ACCOMPLISHED!

  • kathy

    Gallup has new numbers up. The spread increased by 1% on all of their models. This surprises me, because I think a couple of McCain’s ads have been effective.

    Last night on Larry King Live neither Kathryn van de heuvel (sp) nor Christopher Hitchens had adequate retorts to the Joe Biden ad. 1) they didn’t know to point out that the ad left out Biden saying that those who tested Obama would find he had a spine of steel. 2) they didn’t know to point out Lieberman made the point that the new president would be tested no matter who it was. 3) a McCain person said that McCain “would respond in 12 hours” to any crisis, and the Obama surrogates weren’t quick enough to say “that’s the problem.” sigh.

  • mrreallyniceguy

    Maybe. But, for me, $200k or $250k – you might as well be talking a billion. I’m well under either threshold.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    This late in the election it really does come down to steering ratio: there just isn’t enough space for McCain to make the turn even if he had enough fuel in the engine. Iceberg, dead ahead.

  • kathy

    sgwhite – I think Obama just needs to be up with more ads, period. Nate Silver has a very slight narrowing. But there probably just isn’t enough time for McCain to catch up.
    .
    I’m seeing a lot of McCain ads, practically no Obama ads. It’s hard to believe McCain is running out of money when he’s spending so much of it in New Hampshire, by way of all New England. That’s quite a long shot.

  • jeeff

    those commenting on the time-blog meltdown and the work-in-progress replacement, take heart that wordpress is a highly flexible and customizable blogging platform. i’m sure they’ll get all the moderation and design problems fixed, but the fact that they had to make a new mccain-obama banner shows that they really lost access to everything on the server. back-ups much? someone was asleep at the switch.
    .
    i did a traceroute while access was down, and the dns failed at http://www.livingdot.com, blog provider for many major news organizations including time. looks like they couldn’t keep up with increased election-season demand, and time has now jumped ship from livingdot, since the url for the new blogs is completely different.
    .
    high sheriffs, when you have a catastrophic system failure, you’d be better off admitting it rather than posting a message that the system is down due to scheduled maintenance. by not being honest, you blindside your users.
    .
    considering the terrible timing of the crash, i would hire a crack team of wordpress customizers (plenty of people specialize in wordpress) to get this thing rolling again in a timely fashion. take the blogs down from 2am-6am each day to implement and test updates.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Kathy,

    Actually I watched Larry King twice and I believe that Hitchens did eventually talk about McCain being too hawkish. He even went so far as to talk about Obama having it right on Afghanistan and Pakistan and McCain having it wrong. Its kind of maddening watching King because the Rethugs are always more aggressive and are all too willing to speak when its not their turn and try to drown liberal surrogates out. Now one thing about the show last night is that the lady from the Nation seems to be some big pacifist or something so she spent half her time trying to walk Hitchens remarks back instead of attacking back against the rethugs. And lest you forget Hitchens is an avowed conservative and he despises many all most all things liberal. So for him to cross over is a pretty powerful statement but don’t think he is going to turn all liberally just because he endorses Obama and in truth he would not be seen as that big of a deal for endorsing Obama if he DID all of a sudden turn all liberal.

  • mrreallyniceguy

    Actually, pourme, some experts suggest that if the Titanic had hit the ‘berg head-on, it would’ve stood a better chance of staying afloat. It would’ve crushed the forward compartments, of course, but limited the damage. In contrast, side-swiping the ‘berg exposed too many compartments to keep the ship afloat.

    Just sayin’…

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Fair enough, niceguy. As long as Mrs. Astor is safe.

  • kathy

    jeeff
    thanks for the comment. I hadn’t noticed the banner. Could they have found a worse picture of Obama? Totally irrelevant, I suppose, but good grief.

    -

    sgwhite – the amazing thing is that none of this seems to be getting through (that is from McCain) Obama is at 51%. He can give up all the undecideds and win. Maybe people are tired of those who interrupt and seem to think that screaming the loudest means you win the argument.

    Steve Benen has a piece up on washington monthly (courtesy of Jayack’s blog) about how weird it is that no one in the MSM seems to be paying attention to the Troopergate. I agree. I think it may yet blow up in her face, and I was really flabbergasted that Palin got away with saying how grateful she was not to have been found to have done anything unethical. sheesh.

  • http://www.pineviewfarm.net/weblog/?p=3180 From Pine View Farm » 10 Days Left

    [...] Swampland. [...]

  • rubypanther

    I thought it was an excellent ad.

    Very Presidential.

  • Ohg Rea Tone

    Obama stays calm and deliberate no matter what the challenge – what is the source of his calm. …………….

    http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/24/the-root-of-obamas-calm-is-humility/

  • flownver

    KT (or anybody)– Any idea how to access account info? I can’t get to a sign-in place with my existing screenname.

  • http://johnlocalnews.seitenclique.net/obamamccaindanceoff.html obama mccain dance off

    [...] two-minute ad you can see it here, which it says will be running in “key states” starting tomorrow. http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/10/25/a-big-close/?xid=rss-topstoriesMore from Forums – Disaboom ? Fabulous Obama-McCain dance off — MUST SEE VIDEO [...]

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    [...] two-minute ad you can see it here, which it says will be running in “key states” starting tomorrow. http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/10/25/a-big-close/?xid=rss-topstoriesMore from Twitter / Doorley http://twitter.com/Doorley/status/961785934&quotYou??re going to be on [...]

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    [...] two-minute ad you can see it here, which it says will be running in “key states” starting tomorrow. http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/10/25/a-big-close/?xid=rss-topstoriesMore from City-Data.com Forum: Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions Quote: Originally Posted [...]

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