Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton debate Iraq earlier this year in LA. The two are campaigning together today in Unity, New Hampshire.
** NEW RECORD OIL PRICE. Crude oil closed over $140 per barrel today for the first time in history, at a whopping $140.90. It also hit a new intraday trading high of $142.99 per barrel. Gold is around a record high, the dollar is around a record low, and the stock market is on the cusp of beardom, with financial stocks especially nosediving.
** OBAMA’S CALIFORNIA. It began as Clinton Country. For awhile, it seemed John McCain might stake his claim on the Golden State. But now, it is clearly Barack Obama’s California. From my other blog.
** UNITY, NH. Sounds like the title of a TV show. Played as a good TV show, too. Hillary Clinton is a much more compelling and polished speaker than when she began her presidential campaign. She and Barack Obama played off each other quite well. He with his slightly loosened French, er, royal blue tie, she with matching (trademark) pantsuit. (Actually, it may be more of a robin’s egg blue.) She either actually wants him to be elected president, or has become a very accomplished actress. 6000 people showing up in a field outside a town so small it doesn’t have an elected mayor. Where neither candidate actually campaigned in the New Hampshire primary, but where each received 107 votes.
** OBAMA: EMERGING CONVENTIONAL WISDOM? One of the principal purveyors of conventional wisdom out of the Beltway, politico.com, has a feature pushing a theme. That Barack Obama is really just another conventional politician. This happens to be the theme pushed by our friend, McCain senior advisor Steve Schmidt, the former Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign manager. But he may be pushing it because it’s a natural for many journalistic minds, and the alternatives are not good. The piece argues that Obama has made a mistake in the last two weeks. By not making “bold choices.” Or by, looking at it from another perspective, not playing into Republican hands. Decides not to give up massive fundraising advantage over McCain? Supposed mistake. Decides not to debate in McCain’s preferred and by far best format? Supposed mistake. Decides to continue his stance of favoring the right of the individual to bear arms? Supposed mistake. Decides to support death penalty for the rapists of children? Supposed mistake. Decides not to punish telecom firms caught up in the post-9/11 fervor that cooperated with national security officials? Supposed mistake.
Of course, had Obama gone the other way on these issues, he would be derided as an idiot. Naturally. But it sure would have played into another favored Republican theme, that Obama is the most radical Democratic presidential nominee in history.
** MAC’S FAVORITE RECENT MOVIE. “Indiana Jones. I loved it because the old guy wins.” McCain has a new TV ad, on the “energy security” theme, naturally. This one for broadcast. And a new slogan. The third in the last month. I’ll break it all down for early next week.
UPDATE: The Obama/Clinton event in Unity, New Hampshire is now slated to start around 10 AM Pacific.
** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Barack Obama is in Unity, New Hampshire and Washington, DC. Following what sounds like a very successful meeting with Hillary Clinton and 300 of her top fundraisers last night in Washington, he appears with his former rival this morning at an elementary school in New Hampshire. The much ballyhooed event is expected to go off around 8 AM Pacific, roadblocked on all news shows.
John McCain is in Warren, Ohio for a town hall meeting at the General Motors plant there.
** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST ON FIRE SITUATION THIS MORNING. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, accompanied by US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, tours the Whiskeytown fires near Mount Shasta and discusses the fires there and in other parts of California. The event will be webcast live at 11:20 AM on www.gov.ca.gov.
** MY LATEST PODCAST. The road ahead.
** OBAMA V. MCCAIN: THE AD WARS ARE ON. What Obama and McCain are doing in their first rounds of general election TV advertising. Along with the where and the why. From my other blog.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $139 to $140 per barrel range.
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| Comments (83) |
I’m sending an e-mail to the tech guy. The font size problem is affecting all the browsers on my system now.
>carole w:
Brasky,
I am using your Ctrl/mouse trick and it is working. Size matters.
Jun 27, 2008 – 1:37 pm
I think they can actually spread the field, AND run it up the middle. In Ohio. With the economic situation, there is no way a Republican should win Ohio.
>Brasky:
I know that it’s a popular strategy and may have its merits, but I just believe in running for Vice President of Pennsylvania (or wherever).
Tenn voted against Gore in 2000. Other examples to be sure.
If you still want to go with this strategy, then you should move resources from “new battleground” states to traditional swing states. I don’t think you can pick a hybrid system – either spread the field with realistic threats or run the old smashmouth strategy.
I’m a little hesitant about running smashmouth again, since it has shown a very small (two states over eight years) margin for error.
Jun 27, 2008 – 1:04 pm
… But that means the Democrats need a very concerted campaign to take down Mac in Ohio. That can be done.
Very interesting analysis.
One problem with Ed Rendell, who I’m going to see next month, is that he campaigned with Louis Farrakhan in the ’90s. Though he is obiously not a Nation of Islam type guy.
>Pat Skipper:
I agree that Barack Obama is essentially a conventional politician, except that he’s better at playing the game than the supposed masters, the Clintons–and the Republicans as well. His policies are not too different than those of the DLC and are barely distinguishable from HRC’s. He’s just a better, smarter and more eloquent messenger. Because of his lineage he’s able to take a slightly different stance at times, like being for the second amendment while at the same time calling for personal responsibility and family values.
This is one reason I see this race as a conventional presidential campaign. I disagree with Brasky’s statement from a couple days ago that this is a “different” candidate or a “different” campaign. The rules remain the same: take enough states to win enough electors. One way to do that would be to pick a running mate who could deliver a state. Yes, he should run everywhere, particularly in places where McCain is weak in the Republican backyard. That’s why the Clintons are essential, I think, in order for him to be able to fully implement this strategy. WJC plays very well in the rural zip codes, and Hillary obviously has a massive following across the country. She’d really help him in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and, as we saw today, New Hampshire. I seriously doubt she’ll be the VEEP, nor should she be.
I think you gotta look long and hard at the Pennsylvania politicos for a running mate. Bayh’s a good idea, in many ways. Mark Warner and of course Webb might also deliver their states. Warner’s a particularly strong vote-getter, though I still think they’d possibly be throwing away a winning senate seat.
Jun 27, 2008 – 11:52 am
Bill Bradley:
I’m sending an e-mail to the tech guy. The font size problem is affecting all the browsers on my system now.
—–
So old feeble minded was so wrong after all. Amazing!!!! Just fracking amazing!!!
Well, I haven’t gotten into this, but McCain is actually doing a bunch of stuff now with conservative fundamentalists.
When you’re changing your slogan every other week or so, and your ad campaign every week and a half, it’s not good.
Wasn’t the Ford 500 a successor to the Taurus, not a badge change?
>Brasky:
“…a new slogan. The third in the last month.”
The ad campaign won’t help unless you have a product people want. It’s like spending more money advertising the Edsel or New Coke.
And continually changing the message only hurts what little brand ID McCain had built-up over the years. Like when Ford decided to change the Taurus to the 500, spending millions on advertising, only to change the name back to Taurus.
Whatever – these guys are lost and heading deeper into the forest. They keep chasing the base, which you would think would come back to them if they mount a successful smear campaign on Obama, instead of going after the larger block of moderate voters that are up for grabs.
When they DO track back to the middle (assuming they still intend on trying to win), McCain is going to look even MORE like a flip-flopper.
And all this time I wanted to battle Meat Romney, who had taken every possible position of every side of every issue. Little did I know that McCain would out-Romney Romney.
I look forward to your piece.
Jun 27, 2008 – 11:08 am
“A friend of mine is about to see Richardson.”
I like the Gov and would want him in the administration, but it seemed like he didn’t feel comfortable running for Pres…
It’s affecting all my browsers, too. Firefox being the last.
>Brasky:
carole w: I’m on XP and Firefox. I was having a problem with Quicktime, but that seems unrelated to the small font size.
I updated Firefox, Flash and Quicktime – still got little fonts (text appears to be about 10pt and everyone’s names and post times are about 16pt.
Oh well – maybe something to do with Bill Gates stepping down today.
Jun 27, 2008 – 10:57 am
INDEED.
>Sacramento Solon:
Bill Bradley:
I’m sending an e-mail to the tech guy. The font size problem is affecting all the browsers on my system now.
—–
So old feeble minded was so wrong after all. Amazing!!!! Just fracking amazing!!!
Jun 27, 2008 – 2:28 pm
It’s a daunting prospect. He was very good in the more casual settings, like tooling around Nevada.
>Brasky:
“A friend of mine is about to see Richardson.”
I like the Gov and would want him in the administration, but it seemed like he didn’t feel comfortable running for Pres…
Jun 27, 2008 – 2:31 pm
Never heard that about Rendell. That’s probably a non-starter. Just what Obama doesn’t need. Jeez.
Richardson certainly has to be on the list. I was an early supporter but was baffled by his debate appearances. Again, I think you hit ‘em every way you can. But, as matter of philosophy regarding the VEEPstakes: first, don’t pick Dan Quayle or Tom Eagleton. That is, don’t pick someone who might become a millstone. Do no harm. Two, someone who can win for you. Somewhere. I would argue here that J. Edwards was the wrong pick for Kerry. To me, it was clear that they had no chance in Carolina. Edwards was, in fact, very unpopular in his own state. He was more of an “add some youthful vigor to our slow, ponderous basset hound of a war-hero candidate” choice. Three, someone who complements your assets with some of his or her own, without overshadowing you. Someone who wouldn’t mind riding the jump seat for a while.
Will Webb be happy in that role? I really don’t know enough about him. Richardson is also a wild card for me. Clark, I like…but would he be a distraction or a help? Bayh or Warner seem the safe choices. But is that what’s called for? I really don’t know, but it’s fun to speculate.
“Wasn’t the Ford 500 a successor to the Taurus, not a badge change?”
It was a ground-up design, with a size between the Taurus and the Crown Vic. Taurus had been lagging in sales, so I think contemplating killing it off had been a long time coming.
I guess the 500 is technically a cousin to the Taurus, which hastened it’s demise and then took over its name. Like Johny Mac, Ford just kept flaying away, hoping to find a way to stumble on some popularity.
Pat – I would like to see Clark. One added benefit is that it’s another small bridge of friendship to the Clintonistas
I’m a Wes Clark admirer. I should run more about him.
Yeah, I think it was sort of an attempt to position the new range in between a standard sedan and a small luxury sedan. It even had wood, I think. But it was underpowered.
Of course, today, that might be an advantage …
>Brasky:
“Wasn’t the Ford 500 a successor to the Taurus, not a badge change?”
It was a ground-up design, with a size between the Taurus and the Crown Vic. Taurus had been lagging in sales, so I think contemplating killing it off had been a long time coming.
I guess the 500 is technically a cousin to the Taurus, which hastened it’s demise and then took over its name. Like Johny Mac, Ford just kept flaying away, hoping to find a way to stumble on some popularity.
Jun 27, 2008 – 3:20 pm
I blame Bush.
I’m pretty sure about that.
>Pat Skipper:
Never heard that about Rendell. That’s probably a non-starter. Just what Obama doesn’t need. Jeez.
Richardson is good. He has the geopolitical troubleshooter cred, two Cabinet posts, knows energy really well, and could alternate between the Mountain West and the chat shows to strong effect.
>Richardson certainly has to be on the list. I was an early supporter but was baffled by his debate appearances. Again, I think you hit ‘em every way you can. But, as matter of philosophy regarding the VEEPstakes: first, don’t pick Dan Quayle or Tom Eagleton. That is, don’t pick someone who might become a millstone. Do no harm. Two, someone who can win for you. Somewhere. I would argue here that J. Edwards was the wrong pick for Kerry. To me, it was clear that they had no chance in Carolina. Edwards was, in fact, very unpopular in his own state. He was more of an “add some youthful vigor to our slow, ponderous basset hound of a war-hero candidate” choice. Three, someone who complements your assets with some of his or her own, without overshadowing you. Someone who wouldn’t mind riding the jump seat for a while.
I’m starting to get the feeling Webb does want to be the VP. I like him. Clark is good. Bayh, I have no substantive quarrel with, but find dull. Warner can probably deliver Virginia. But he has no foreign policy or military credentials.
>Will Webb be happy in that role? I really don’t know enough about him. Richardson is also a wild card for me. Clark, I like…but would he be a distraction or a help? Bayh or Warner seem the safe choices. But is that what’s called for? I really don’t know, but it’s fun to speculate.
Jun 27, 2008 – 2:56 pm
… Incidentally, Race To The White House is on in the background. I find I’m exclaiming, “What, you frakking moron!,” a bit too often to concentrate on what I’m trying to think about.
Webb should be VP.
I want a moderate dem with military and foreign policy experience and that’s a pretty short list Webb is at the top, but I’d be happy with Clark too.
I think you may be right about Webb’s indifference, Bill. Seems like he would have put himself in a more visible position if he were interested.
I’m happy about Obama and Clinton today. But where’s Bill?
The Ford 500 was an entirely new platform to replace the Taurus, but it didn’t take off as hoped, so now they’ve rebadged the 500 as the Taurus.
This bit of original thinking brought to you by the FoMoCo Department of Redundancy Department.
Good week.
They rebadged it? Amazing. Ford blew it with Jaguar and Aston Martin, now it’s blowing it with Volvo.
>Wilbur:
The Ford 500 was an entirely new platform to replace the Taurus, but it didn’t take off as hoped, so now they’ve rebadged the 500 as the Taurus.
This bit of original thinking brought to you by the FoMoCo Department of Redundancy Department.
Jun 27, 2008 – 4:54 pm
London. For Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday.
>marcos leon:
I’m happy about Obama and Clinton today. But where’s Bill?
Jun 27, 2008 – 4:44 pm
I don’t think Webb is indifferent. I think he’s very interested in being Obama’s VP. His new best-selling book happened to come out at the end of the primary season.
>Pat Skipper:
I think you may be right about Webb’s indifference, Bill. Seems like he would have put himself in a more visible position if he were interested.
Jun 27, 2008 – 4:22 pm
I just watched McCain’s new ad “Purpose” – it’s the best of the bunch, but isn’t going to make-up for the fact that the campaign is wandering around in the desert.
And I think Moses is for Obama, so McCain might be on his own out there…
BTW – Wes Clark sent me an email and he’ll be on Face the Nation.
Bill Bradley:
I don’t think Webb is indifferent. I think he’s very interested in being Obama’s VP. His new best-selling book happened to come out at the end of the primary season.
————————-
Webb’s new work is a decent read. Combine it with Born Fighting and you learn much about the man.
Actually, Webb’s latest book is very good. Yet I am having trouble focusing on it in the midst of the usual new media BS.
Indeed he will.
>Brasky:
BTW – Wes Clark sent me an email and he’ll be on Face the Nation.
Jun 27, 2008 – 7:46 pm
The latest McCain TV ad, with the latest slogan, is actually mediocre.
Which I will get into in a couple of days.
>Brasky:
I just watched McCain’s new ad “Purpose” – it’s the best of the bunch, but isn’t going to make-up for the fact that the campaign is wandering around in the desert.
And I think Moses is for Obama, so McCain might be on his own out there…
Jun 27, 2008 – 7:45 pm