Today's States of the Race

Courtesy of TPM Election Central, here are the new Fox-Rasmussen state polls out today:

Colorado:
Obama (D) 49%
McCain (R) 48%

Florida:
Obama (D) 47%
McCain (R) 47%

Ohio:
McCain (R) 48%
Obama (D) 47%

Pennsylvania:
Obama (D) 50%
McCain (R) 42%

Virginia:
Obama (D) 50%
McCain (R) 47%

The bad news: Ohio seems static. Obama gained ground for a while and brought the race here back to a tie about 10 days ago. But ever since then, there hasn't been much movement. I wonder why, especially with the economy being such an important issue here.

The good news: Whatever movement we haven't seen in Ohio has more than been made up for in Florida! Not that long ago, I was wondering if The Sunshine State was starting to look safe for McCain. But with the ugly economic clouds covering the bright sun here, the state of the race has shifted. Without a doubt, Florida is DEFINITELY winnable for Obama now... Perhaps even more so than Ohio at this point. Obama's investment in Florida is certainly paying off.

Meanwhile, Obama maintains an egde in Virginia and Colorado while also building a larger lead in Pennsylvania. If this keeps up, Obama has a much easier path to 270 EVs than he had just a month ago.

Conclusion: I'm feeling better now that I'm seeing these numbers. :-)

Obama Up in North Carolina? Yes!

In case you missed DCDemocrat's post, Public Policy Polling has a new North Carolina poll out. You've got to see it to believe it!

Obama (D) 47%
McCain (R) 45%
Barr (Lib) 3%

Whoa! Could this be the beginning of a McCrash? He really bombed today in taking credit for "the success of the bailout bill" this morning... Then shifting to blame Obama when the bill failed in the House. Since a full 64% of North Carolinians view the economy as Issue #1, they're paying attention to what happens with this financial crisis. And with every new day of downright psychotic McCrazy behavior, his poll numbers fall some more.

And with Charlotte being the nation's #2 banking hub (after New York), McCrash may be burning himself now.

BONUS: In the Senate race, Kay Hagan now has an 8% lead over "Free Liddy" Dole!

A friend emailed me and had this to say:

I hate to be a moral relativist, but given the behaviour of the McCain campaign during this race, I think it would be ridiculous to argue that anything that is a factual statement about Cindy or Johnny (McCain) would be off-limits or unfair. Frank Rich points out that if Michelle were addicted to drugs, their daughter was pregnant out of wedlock, Barack had finished at the bottom of his class, Joe Biden was a complete fucking idiot, Barack and Michelle had met and apparently become engaged while each was married to someone else, Barack visited casinos at least monthly for 22 years while also purporting to oversee them - well, the election would go 100% to McCain. Instead, because the white guy is the one without morals, it's a close race.

Meanwhile

Public Policy Polling suggest Obama leads McCain in North Carolina:

Obama 47
McCain 45

Says PPP:

Last week the two were tied. In the previous survey the economic polled as the biggest issue for 58% of North Carolinians, a new record. This week that figure increased to 64%. Obama has a 55-38 advantage with voters who name the economy as their top concern.

Something to Cheer You Up

Dammit, today's been horrible. The Dow fell another 6% and the Nasdaq another 9% over the collapse of the financial recovery bill. The Republicans are now trying to use this to scare us all again... Though fortunately now, we all know this is all their fault (see how wonderfully deregulation works?). And to make things worse, I'm still feeling tired & sick now.

But hey, let me help if you need a reason to smile now. Because I love you all so much, I'm sharing all my Las Vegas pics with you! Please enjoy. And yes, I'll make sure to have a full report tomorrow. :-)

Obama Urges Calm

Barack Obama has urged the markets and the American people to remain calm. He added:

One of the messages I have to Congress is, get this done, Democrats. Republicans, step up to the plate . . . It's required for us to stabilize the markets.

Meanwhile, McCain is hiding under his bed: Kind of reminds me of Bush hiding on 9/11.

McCain wanted the credit

McCain, according to Ambinder, wanted the credit when the bill was passing. Said his chief strategist before the defeat of the bill:

What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all of the parties to the table, including the House Republicans, whose votes were needed to pass this.

Now that the bill has gone down to defeat and the markets are crashing, I imagine McCain will accept the blame. I mean, after all, that's the kind of guy he is, right?

Second Two Tracking Polls Out

The Diageo Hotline poll is out. They see the race unchanged from yesterday:

Obama 47
McCain 42

Gallup Daily also sees the race as even with where it was yesterday, but their spread is eight points:

Obama 50
McCain 42

So to sum up for today, all the polls show an Obama lead that ranges between five and none points; three of the polls today show McCain at 42, and one of them says that it's 45. Conversely, one poll says Obama has 51; two say he has 50; and one says it's 47. Anyway you slice it, Obama continues to lead McCain.

New Obama Ad Out

I'm Back!

Hi, everyone! Sorry I was so quiet over the weekend. I was busy walking neighborhoods... IN LAS VEGAS! Yes, you may call me crazy. I walked in 100°F heat for Obama and for our endorsed Congressional candidate Dina Titus (NV-03).

I'll provide more details later. In the mean time, chat away. ;-)

Wow.

In my 50 years, I have never seen a campaign try to influence the moderator of a debate to ask easy questions because it obviously know its candidate isn't up to the other candidate:

First Two Tracking Polls of the Day

Rasmussen is out with his Monday tracking poll. He finds the race essentially static:

Obama 50
McCain 45

Rasmussen observes:

That’s the fourth straight day Obama has been at 50% and the fourth straight day McCain has been at either 44% or 45%

Research 2000/Daily Kos finds that Obama's position has improved since yesterday and since the debate:

Obama 51
McCain 42

DemFromCT comments about the new results:

On successive days, Obama was up +7 Fri, +9 Sat and +11 Sun (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.) That +11 yesterday (single day polling) was Obama's strongest single day of polling, and is reflective of the debate Friday.

A random thought

Let me tell you a little suspicion that I have. I think the Republicans aren't even trying this year. I think they want McCain to lose. I think they anticipate the next president will face such a colossal mess that the people will saddle us Democrats with the responsibility for their disaster for a generation.

Barack Obama is going to have to surprise them. Once we win this damned election, we have to save the country again like we did under Franklin Delano Roosevelt and turn the country blue for 50 years to come.

Campaign first

John McCain likes to run around crying, "Country first," but this week showed us what he instinctively puts first. There are several accounts now circulating across the web that tell us quite frankly what we had suspected from the first, that John McCain's quixotic antics last week displayed a willingness to try and save his campaign in the face of crashing poll numbers even if it meant wrecking the country.

Frank Rich yesterday wrote a searing article that describes the events that surrounded McCain's decision to "suspend" his campaign, trying both to reverse his terrible poll numbers and cover up Sarah Palin's disastrous interview with Katie Couric. Frank commences his must-read piece with the observation:

What we learned last week is that the man who always puts his “country first” will take the country down with him if that’s what it takes to get to the White House.

The Washington Post today in a piece aptly titled, Days of Chaos, Improvisation and Drama, chronicles how McCain last week lurched "from one strategy to the next, defensively reacting to events while trying to regain his footing." The article repeats the word, "lurch," over and over, and time and again refers to McCain's "disasters," born as the outcomes of his impetuous and imprudent improvisations. McCain did this apparently despite repeated requests that he butt out of the process. Markos this evening has a long post that describes how McCain was asked to refrain from interfering in the negotiation over the Bailout Bill but still ran through the process like a bull in a china closet.

I mean, really. The last eight years have been horrible. I truly believe the dictum that you will know a tree by the fruit it bears. We need to put this country back together again. If we somehow mysteriously elect John McCain our president, get ready for Mr. Toad's wild ride. This guy is erratic and will lurch from one disaster to the next without regard to anyone's interests but his own. Last week was his, "Alright, Mr. Demille, I'm ready for close-up," moment.

You want to know what a McCain presidency would be like? Just study his behavior last week.

The Oliphant cartoon the Washington Post won't print, but CNN still can laugh at the Palin interview

Michael Calderone reports The Washington Post declined to print this cartoon. I am glad "Saturday Night Live" wasn't shy about laughing at Palin's gibberish:



And neither were commentators at CNN shy about laughing at Governor Palin's interview with Katie Couric: