Starting Gate: Calm Before The Storm?
In 2000, revelations that then-Governor George W. Bush has been arrested for driving while under the influence helped rock the final weekend of that presidential campaign. In 2004, it was a last-minute video tape from Osama bin Laden that helped inject late drama into the race. In 2008, about all we had to chew on over the last weekend was Barack Obama's lead in the polls and John McCain's appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
To say this campaign is winding down to an anticlimactic finish, however, is to ignore the history of presidential elections over the past two decades. With a large turnout election brewing, millions of votes already cast, and still a full day before the polls open, this is just the calm before the storm – regardless of what the final outcome may be.
Frantic last-minute campaigning has led to a mind-boggling itinerary for the candidates in the race and there is some evidence that the race is tightening oh-so-slightly, if not on the national level, then in the battlegrounds. It looks for all intents and purposes to be a field tilted heavily towards the Democrats. But it ain't over yet.
Encouraging signs for McCain and Republicans remain viable. Obama, for all his advantages, hovers right around or below 50 percent in many of the polls in key states, even those which he leads. The McCain campaign hopes that their opponent has reached his high-water mark in that regard and that they will pick up the vast majority of undecided voters, leaving their path to 270 Electoral Votes alive.
They have some reason for the optimism. No Democrat has won the White House with 50 percent or more of the vote nationally since Jimmy Carter narrowly did so in 1976. Bill Clinton failed to win a majority of the vote in either of his elections and while John Kerry received more votes than any Democratic candidate ever, he fell short of the White House in Ohio.
Anyone paying attention to the last two presidential elections understands all-too well that the path to the presidency is through the Electoral College, not the popular vote. The battlegrounds of this race remain almost exclusively in Republican territory but it is, indeed, Republican territory and it won't be given up easily. Early voting and polls indicate Democrats are poised to make some tremendous gains but it they won't come easy.
Campaigns are full of surprises and unexpected results. No campaign understands that better than Obama's. Their loss in New Hampshire during the primaries, despite a ten-point lead in the polls, should be more than enough to serve as a reminder of what can happen on Election Day. Get ready, because one way or the other, tomorrow is going to be one heck of a ride.
Around The Track
McCain will make stops in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona. Obama stumps in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. Sarah Palin will be in Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada while Joe Biden visits Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
McCain has a tradition of going to the movies on Election Day, but the New York Times reports that this time, he'll continue campaigning in two critical Western states, New Mexico and Colorado.
Obama maintains a 13-point lead in the latest CBS News poll, leading McCain 54 percent to 41 percent.
Obama stumped in Ohio with Bruce Springsteen yesterday in the rain, reports CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic. "I don't' know about you, but I want my country back, I want my dream back, I want my America back!," Springsteen said. "Now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, roll up our sleeves, and come."
© 2008 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. To say this campaign is winding down to an anticlimactic finish, however, is to ignore the history of presidential elections over the past two decades. With a large turnout election brewing, millions of votes already cast, and still a full day before the polls open, this is just the calm before the storm – regardless of what the final outcome may be.
Frantic last-minute campaigning has led to a mind-boggling itinerary for the candidates in the race and there is some evidence that the race is tightening oh-so-slightly, if not on the national level, then in the battlegrounds. It looks for all intents and purposes to be a field tilted heavily towards the Democrats. But it ain't over yet.
Encouraging signs for McCain and Republicans remain viable. Obama, for all his advantages, hovers right around or below 50 percent in many of the polls in key states, even those which he leads. The McCain campaign hopes that their opponent has reached his high-water mark in that regard and that they will pick up the vast majority of undecided voters, leaving their path to 270 Electoral Votes alive.
They have some reason for the optimism. No Democrat has won the White House with 50 percent or more of the vote nationally since Jimmy Carter narrowly did so in 1976. Bill Clinton failed to win a majority of the vote in either of his elections and while John Kerry received more votes than any Democratic candidate ever, he fell short of the White House in Ohio.
Anyone paying attention to the last two presidential elections understands all-too well that the path to the presidency is through the Electoral College, not the popular vote. The battlegrounds of this race remain almost exclusively in Republican territory but it is, indeed, Republican territory and it won't be given up easily. Early voting and polls indicate Democrats are poised to make some tremendous gains but it they won't come easy.
Campaigns are full of surprises and unexpected results. No campaign understands that better than Obama's. Their loss in New Hampshire during the primaries, despite a ten-point lead in the polls, should be more than enough to serve as a reminder of what can happen on Election Day. Get ready, because one way or the other, tomorrow is going to be one heck of a ride.
Around The Track
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Bill Frist
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*** Cheney
George Bush
Lying about reasons for going to war with Iraq (Uranium,
false claims about Iraq''s supposed weapons of mass destruction.)
Torture in Abu Ghraib.
The treasonous exposure of a CIA agent by White House officials.(Plamegate)
Letting Osama Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora
Halliburton%u2019s overcharging and outright fraud for services in Iraq
Lack of body armor for troops
Enron
Katrina
Illegal wiretapping
Political influence peddling
S.e.x scandals
Troopergate
Travel fraud
Election tampering
Ballooning federal debt
Economy in a tailspin
And these are just for starters%u2026
Enough is enough, America is ready for change!
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I don''t know what policies, but I do know that it is the truth. In a campaign speech during the primaries when folks were doubting John McCain''s Republican credentials, in his own words,
"I have voted with President Bush over 90pct of the time, even more than some of my Republican collegues..."
The fact that he did that is indisputable. The reason he did it was because he wanted the presidency so badly that he thought that by standing with Bush it would get him the nomination. I imagine that he disagreed with Bush on some of those votes. After 2000, John McCain ceased being a mavrick and became a Bush lackey for personal gain.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Genesis_of_the_Credit_and_Economic_Crisis
Causes and Historical Perspectives
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLLlZQJQrFY
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4&feature=related
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1vSqF9Hm7A
Consequences
In every generation, every decade, recent history is replete with the consequences of politicians and other authority figures who prey on suffering, selling hope to those who would listen while peddling influence to those who would pay, advocating accountability but abdicating responsibility while casting blame, and promising unity but creating division, employing violence - be it verbal, emotional, psychological or physical - to set one party against another to further a cause. The result is always the same, however well-intended the cause. People are divided. Humanity suffers.
Which economic policies of Bush caused this economic downturn? The House (not White House)sponsors spending bills. The Dems have been in charge now for over 2 yrs. I guess we spent all that money the 1st 51/2 years.
Re tax breaks. JFK, Reagan, Clinton loved them (even tho in 1992 he promised but in 1993 he raised because of economic times, not because of his own personal belief)because they understood economics. Carter and Hoover raised them.
If tax breaks "to the wealthy" caused this economic downturn, should it not have happened sooner? I mean, those breaks happened in 2001. Tax breaks have never been bad for the economy. If you know of one instance, pls share it.
I think we all probably know what caused this economic mess. Anyway, give me 3 Bush policies that caused this downturn?
I have refrained from using idiot, scum, stupid, and other 3rd grade arguments because I respect your intelligence.
One is the Bradley influence that the right keeps proposing. The fact is even if Bradley was white the polls leading to that election were not very accurate and the supposed affect is very unlikely to have occured.In fact I noted one pundit that stated that for every vote Obama could lose in the Bubba affect he will likely gain two among women and voters of color.
And the Dewey-Truman similarity I have seen bounced all over the place is based on a totally inept Gallup poll of the era. What occured was the Gallup organization in order to reach more folk for a more accurate assessment of the election used the telephone for the first time. But in 1948 the telephone was common at that time mostly in middle and upper middle class homes and not yet in many rural and poorer urban areas. So the pollsters were getting a slewed picture of the country''s attitude. That and Truman''s whistle stop train tour of the nation guaranteed his so-called come from behind vistory. but many doubt that he was ever really behind. Especially Harry!