Lots of process talk on the political tom-toms right now about McCain pulling out of Michigan and re-deploying resources to other states. This moving forces around the map like Gen. Rommel in the desert stuff may be catnip to the media and a huge pre-occupation of the campaign staffs, but it can obscure the big picture. McCain is in …
Palin
Debate thoughts…
No game-changer; the debate essentially a tie. Maybe a slight edge on points to McCain as he did put Obama on the defensive quite a few times although at the price of a crusty tone. Both campaigns will now employ first-rate funhouse mirror logic to claim smashing victories. McCain will say this puts him back in the race. They won’t …
The Palin Surprise
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
A dispatch from the road on how the Obama folks have handled, and are handling, the Palin surprise.
Axelrod on Palin
In the Obama campaign’s first reaction (if you don’t count Gibbs and Biden on the morning shows and the traveling staff’s guffaws watching the speech last night) David Axelrod came back on the plane and gaggled with us about Palin’s speech before taking off to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Obama watched part, but not all of Palin’s …
Re: Re: Palin and Pregnancy
Monroe, Michigan
After making brief remarks on Hurricane Gustav at a Labor Day event in Monroe, Michigan, Obama was asked about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy.
“I have said before and I will say it again: I think people’s families are off limits and I think people’s children are especially off limits,” he said.
He encouraged reporters …
Palin’s “Good Looking”
Joe Biden called his vice presidential opponent Sarah Palin “good looking” at an event in Toledo yesterday. It was classic Biden, full of self-deprecating humor.
Biden: There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent and that is that – it’s obviously,
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The Barracuda and the Wolverines
What will Sarah Palin mean for McCain in Michigan? While I share the view that in the end the VP choice doesn’t mean much we might as well join in the speculation parade. I chose Michigan because I know it well from my work there on a bunch of statewide campaigns back in my consulting days.
Much of the battle for Michigan is fought …
Even More on Palin
Here’s a story my colleague Michael Grunwald and I whipped up today. It pulls from an interview two weeks ago I did with Palin for our “Hotshots to Watch” series. You can also listen to the interview, in which she talks about how she hopes to shape the Republican Party, her own rapid ascent and her compelling personal story, and …