rssPosts by Jeff Bridges
Surprising change for October surprise
The “October surprise.” Both feared and hoped for by candidates at all levels, Wikipedia describes it as “a news event with the potential to influence the outcome of an election.” It made a pop culture appearance in the movie Wag the Dog, where a sitting president hires a Hollywood producer to stage a fake war the President then heroically ends — just before election day. Yet the increasing popularity of early voting and vote-by-mail has dramatically reduced the effectiveness of the October surprise. By the time it hits, a large chunk of voters have already cast their ballots.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• McCain hot foots it out of Michigan
• Sign, sign everywhere a sign.
• Congressional Web site takes a dive
McCain hot foots it out of Michigan
Yesterday John McCain’s campaign conceded the state of Michigan to Barack Obama, pulling out staff and canceling their media buys. No more mail, phones, or radio either. While this allows McCain to redirect resources to states where he has a better chance of winning, it also allows Obama to do the same. McCain may not have had much of a choice, though, as his decision to accept public financing put him at a significant financial disadvantage to the Obama fundraising machine.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Sign, sign everywhere a sign.
• Congressional Web site takes a dive
• Presidential slugfest hits the airwaves
Sign, sign everywhere a sign
Yardsigns. The bane of every field organizer on every congressional, senate, and presidential campaign in the country. Don’t have enough yardsigns for everyone who walks through the door? Clearly the campaign has idiots in charge! At least that’s what you hear from dedicated community activists who nearly universally believe campaigns win or lose because of these plastic pieces of visual pollution.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Congressional Web site takes a dive
• Presidential slugfest hits the airwaves
• By the numbers: Obama’s got the edge
Congressional Web site takes a dive
Embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens may have caught a lot of flak for calling the Internet a “series of tubes,” but House techies today used a tunnel analogy to explain how they will handle ever-increasing amounts of traffic from people looking to learn about their representatives online. Welcome to the 21st century, guys, it’s pretty darn cool.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Presidential slugfest hits the airwaves
• By the numbers: Obama’s got the edge
• McCain’s Southern-style ‘mission accomplished’
Presidential slugfest hits the airwaves
A few weeks ago I predicted John McCain’s comment about “renegotiating” the Colorado River Compact would show up in paid media ads against him from Barack Obama. My crystal ball didn’t let me down. Yesterday Obama put up a radio ad featuring the quote, along with a line from Senator Ken Salazar about how it’s a “terrible idea.” In my experience presidential campaigns rarely cut ads specific to just one state. For Obama to put together an ad that will, I expect, only run in very specific parts of this one state, well, welcome to life in the top battleground of 2008.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• By the numbers: Obama’s got the edge
• McCain’s Southern-style ‘mission accomplished’
• Debate tips from Karl Rove, earpiece not included
By the numbers: Obama’s got the edge
I’ve found a few very good polls on Barack Obama and John McCain’s first debate, and they all say the same thing: Obama handily beat McCain. CBS: 39 percent for Obama and 24 percent for McCain. CNN: 51-38. USA Today/Gallup: 46-34. But as usual the top line numbers only tell part of the story.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• McCain’s Southern-style ‘mission accomplished’
• Debate tips from Karl Rove, earpiece not included
• Free Sarah Palin from the media blackhole
• In craven political move, McCain suspends campaign over economic crisis
McCain’s Southern-style ‘mission accomplished’
Sun Tzu says in The Art of War that every battle is won before it is fought. Declaring victory before battle, well, that’s a whole other thing altogether, but that’s exactly what John McCain’s campaign did this morning. According to Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, McCain began running website ads in the Wall Street Journal reading, “McCain Wins Debate!” along with another ad featuring a quote from Fannie May and Freddie Mac lobbyist his campaign manager Rick Davis, “McCain won the debate—hands down.”
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Debate tips from Karl Rove, earpiece not included
• Free Sarah Palin from the media blackhole
• In craven political move, McCain suspends campaign over economic crisis
Debate tips from Karl Rove, earpiece not included
Karl Rove and I both used to work full-time in politics, but now we both mostly just write about it. Rove, however, has had far more success in all of his ventures, so when he shares his thoughts on how John McCain and Barack Obama should handle themselves during the debate on Friday — I listen.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Free Sarah Palin from the media blackhole
• Now a word from fictional President Bartlet…
• In craven political move, McCain suspends campaign over economic crisis
UPDATED: Free Sarah Palin from the media blackhole
John McCain has suspended his campaign so he can go back to D.C. and work on fixing this whole economy thing. OK, whatever. But as David Letterman pointed out last night, at least one person on McCain’s campaign doesn’t need to head back to D.C. — Sarah Palin. So far, though, McCain has seemed loathe to allow her out in public. If he believes she’ll make a great VP — or president, if he doesn’t beat the actuary tables — why not have her take his place for a few days?
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Now a word from fictional President Bartlet…
• In craven political move, McCain suspends campaign over economic crisis
• Love the Wall Street bailout? Try McCain on health insurance deregulation
Now a word from fictional President Bartlet…
I love The West Wing. I find myself taking notes on what politics could become if only our leaders acted more like, well, leaders. West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin recently wrote a fictional dialog between real presidential candidate Barack Obama and fake President Josiah Bartlet. It’s positively brilliant.
Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• In craven political move, McCain suspends campaign over economic crisis
• Love the Wall Street bailout? Try McCain on health insurance deregulation
• Sarcasm on the campaign trail
