Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Monday, October 13, 2008

Obama's Fund Raising Advantage

This LA Times article does a good job of explaining Obama's significant advantage in fund raising.  In the article they point out that Obama is out spending McCain by huge margins in a number of swing states and states that conventional wisdom says are no-hopers for Democrats (but are currently leaning towards going for Obama).  I'm talking about states like Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana (all of which went for Bush in both 2000 and 2004 and 4 of which currently have Obama ahead in the polls).  This forces McCain to focus his campaign on shoring up eroding support among Republicans and in Republican states instead of contesting independents and swing states or Democratic states that were close losses for Bush (like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Michigan).  


While this isn't actually a 50 state strategy, it's close enough.  Obama is using his fund raising advantage to be more aggressive and he's got the McCain camp back on their heals.  They're responding with increasingly shrill attacks lacking in any meaningful substance or basis in reality.  Furthermore, the calls for yet another massive campaign staff shake up are starting to emerge again.  Conservative columnist Bill Kristol is calling for McCain to fire his entire staff.  But that would just feed the Obama message that McCain is erratic and unstable.  This would also be the third major staff shake up McCain has undertaken.  One would be forgiven for wondering if he's already hired and fired every available Republican strategist with any experience at the national level.  It is also worth pointing out that McCain's current staff is dominated by proteges of Karl Rove (who has retired to giving commentary at Faux News).  These Rove proteges are supposed to the best the Republicans have on their team.  If they aren't flailing around incoherently, it's a bad bad sign for McCain's chances.

6 comments:

Dr. Strangelove said...

"One would be forgiven for wondering if he's already hired and fired every available Republican strategist with any experience at the national level."

And I am thinking Obama has hired the rest of them. The smart ones surely jumped ship a long time ago: McCain has to work with what is left. I hope the poll numbers continue to go Obama's way. For the first time in 16 years, perhaps my candidate will win!

The Law Talking Guy said...

16 years? For whom did you vote in 1996? Dare I ask?

Raised By Republicans said...

Maybe that's the problem, Dr. S. You need to vote at the same time as everyone else or it won't count. ;-)

Dr. Strangelove said...

I voted for Nader in 1996, because I was unhappy with Clinton for abandoning Lani Guinier and Joycelyn Elders. I strongly considered voting for Nader again in 2000, until I heard him speak in person... And I realized he was too radical for me. So I remained registered Green, but voted for Gore. After the Florida debacle, I peeled off my old Nader bumper sticker, changed my registration to Democrat, and have voted Democratic ever since.

The Law Talking Guy said...

Surely, Dr. S was not heartbroken when Nader lost in 1996. That's like crying about the tide.

Anonymous said...

Whoever Obama's hired, they're certainly not scared to try new campaigning / fund-raising tactics, like putting ads in video games.