Barack Obama discusses the financial crisis yesterday at a press conference in Clearwater, Florida.
** HEY, LET’S SUSPEND THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, TOO. Now the McCain campaign wants to postpone the vice presidential debate, too. Since my read places Sarah Palin on the same level as Cruz Bustamante and Bill Simon, this does not surprise me.
** MCCAIN’S LAST SENATE VOTE … FIVE AND-A-HALF MONTHS AGO. John McCain, who wants to scrap the first presidential debate, has not voted in the U.S. Senate since early April.
** BEHIND TEAM MCCAIN’S SUDDEN GAMBIT. … From my brand-new Huffington Post column.
** MCCAIN’S DRAMATIC GAMBIT, WITH SLIDING POLLS … So you see the item just below. Obviously I stockpile information, since I can’t write 24/7 and think at the same time, much less conduct a personal life.
Meanwhile, I have been wrapping up a column in advance of Friday night’s first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Which means that I do a tour d’horizon, then put it into relatively brief and accessible terms for a large audience.
Team McCain has a different, confounding idea. While I have been in the process of wrapping up a column, several NWN posters have informed me that John McCain wants to postpone the debate, which is on his seeming strong suit, and suspend his campaign per se, in order to focus on the financial crisis.
A reality check. McCain has been all over the lot on the financial crisis. His problem? He is a staunch deregulationist, at a moment in history in which it is clear that that approach has failed. I’m not going to get into the question of the role of his key staff in lobbying for and receiving major value from various big finance entities.
More to the point, despite Team McCain trotting out one of their pollsters this morning on a conference call, it is clear that Obama is surging in various polls. I haven’t bothered to comment on all of them, one of them being the Fox News poll.
Personally, I hope Obama does not cancel the debate. Because I have spent some time on this forthcoming geopolitics column. And because the issues have been ignored, they are all linked when you see the overall, and it is an obvious ploy.
It would be amusing to see this tried in California …
** MENDELSOHN HANDLING MCCAIN PRESS AT FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE. John McCain campaign topper Steve Schmidt’s partner in Mercury Communications, former Arnold Schwarzenegger communications director Adam Mendelsohn, flew to Oxford Mississippi yesterday to take over communciations operations for the first presidential debate, scheduled for Friday. The issue area being foreign policy.
** BATTLEGROUND STATE POLLS: OBAMA UP IN IOWA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, MICHIGAN, PENNSYLVIANIA, OHIO. The Marist polls are now out for these battleground states. In Iowa, it’s Barack Obama over John McCain, 51% to 41%. In New Hampshire, Obama 51-45. In Michigan, Obama 52-43. In Ohio, Obama 47-45. In Pennsylvania, Obama 49-44.
** THE CELL PHONE EFFECT. Here’s an analysis of the difference in presidential campaign polling when cell phones are included and when it is landline-only. Barack Obama runs on average 2.8 points better with cell phones included. Which makes sense. Younger, techno-savvy voters increasingly rely on their mobiles and ignore their landlines, if they bother to have them at all.
** THE CLINTONS ARE COMING. Hillary and Bill Clinton will be campaigning for Barack Obama next week in various states. The former president is in New York City this week for his annual Clinton Global Initiative conference (see the Schwarzenegger item below) and the New York senator is focused this week on the Wall Street crisis. Obviously, the idea behind the timing is to have them out there to reinforce Obama following his first debate with John McCain on Friday night.
** NATIONAL POLL: OBAMA BY 9. The new ABC News/Washington Post poll gives Barack Obama a clear lead over John McCain, 52% to 43%. The poll was conducted Friday through Monday amongst likely voters. Obama’s lead is due to a big shift toward economic concern as the driving issue of the election, and an increase in the number of voters who see Obama as better than McCain on the issue. Also driving Obama’s lead is a shift of independents to Obama, and a shift of white women to Obama. Neither John Kerry nor Al Gore ever had this large a lead in the ABC/Post poll.
All other polls show Obama in the lead now, but this has the highest margin for Obama. It’s also the most extensive poll of the most recent ones. McCain led by 2 in this poll early this month.
** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Barack Obama is in Tampa, Florida for debate prep. He holds a rally in Dunedin, Florida.
Joe Biden is in Cincinnati, Ohio and Jeffersonville, Indiana. He delivers a major foreign policy address in Cincy.
John McCain is in New York City. He and Sarah Palin meet with various foreign leaders in town for the United Nations — including the presidents of Georgia and Ukraine and U2 lead singer Bono. He also meets with Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former Hillary backer who says that Obama is “elitist.”
Sarah Palin is in New York City, for the United Nations. Today is the second day in which she will have met a foreign head of government.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in private meetings and discussions today in Los Angeles. His focus is on the hundreds of legislative bills he must decide upon between now and the end of the month.
Schwarzenegger had agreed to participate in the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference, which begins today in New York City, accepting former President Bill Clinton’s invitation. But the crush of bill signings and vetos, accordioned by the long budget impasse, made that impossible.
** CALIFORNIA STORY. I will have a lot of California material tomorrow, pivoting off the release from embargo of a major new California poll.
** DISTRACT AND DETRACT: TEAM MCCAIN FOLLOWS FORM IN CRISIS. On Monday in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the 1930s, John McCain’s campaign wanted to talk about the Chicago political machine, the New York Times, Bill Ayers (who?), and Hugo Chavez. … From my new Huffington Post column.
** 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.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns for the Los Angeles Times in debate with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included.
Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. After crashing over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, crude oil is trading around $109 per barrel. That’s over $4 more than the Friday close, but over $7 under Monday’s close. The global oil market is reacting to the proposed massive American move to stabilize Wall Street.
The drop of over $38 per barrel since the record high two months ago comes on acknowledgement that the weak US economy will cut future demand and the easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Russian war with Georgia, confounding much speculation and reporting to the contrary, actually decreased the geopolitical risk premium in the oil market.
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You nailed it, dude. Now if we could just peek at BB’s emails….
Fuck these McCain clowns. What a frakking clown show.
And to quote Garth Algar, McCain basicaly said today:
“Wait up, guys. I fell on my keys.”
Nice.
I bet prior to the VP debate, Palin will cancel because a moose ate her homework.
And the reason they are supposed to rush off to Washington is to lend their credibility to the bailout because Team Bush is once again falling short and proving to be the gang that can’t shoot straight. Obama should say no thanks, and emphasize Barney Frank is the Dems point guy and that he will be the one to work out the details before anyone on their side of the aisle jumps aboard. If McCain wants to line up Rep votes he can makes calls before and after the debate.
“I’m not going to reveal my private e-mails on this stunt.”
you are such a tease!!
Brasky…
i was giving you the thumbs up while i was listening…
good onya!
The summary memo Talking Points Memo snagged of the changes in the bailout plan makes it sound like the Dems are winning most of their key points. Go Barney Frank! You are the man!
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/working-draft-house-bailout-plan/
rotfl
** BEHIND TEAM MCCAIN’S SUDDEN GAMBIT. … From my brand-new Huffington Post column.
Good analysis. I don’t have the time for the rejoinding bullshit.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Absent_from_the_Hill.html
i scanned the cafferty question today (one of my pulse-taking places)… i think i found 20 people (out of about 500) who believed that McCain was taking a principled stand.
i don’t think this will play out the way he hoped.
from a May 2007 article:
(note last line in quoted paragraph)
McCain Misses 42nd Straight Vote … and Counting
Sen. John McCain (R-Campaign Trail) missed another vote today on a resolution related to the Iraq war, skipping a procedural move on a war funding measure in favor of hitting the campaign trail in New York.
In fact, McCain’s missed vote today marked his fifth straight week without casting a vote on the Senate floor, with this morning’s vote marking the 42nd straight roll call that he has missed.
Since the first-quarter fundraising period for presidential candidates ended March 31, McCain has made just three floor votes. He hasn’t cast a single vote since the full details of his wildly disappointing presidential campaign’s fundraising report were revealed in mid-April.
If McCain misses the next three votes — the $2.9 trillion fiscal 2008 budget is likely to be voted on this afternoon — he will officially have been absent for 50 percent of the more than 170 roll calls held in the chamber so far in the 110th Congress.
full piece:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/05/mccain_misses_42_straight_vote.html
this may have been the jist all along…
John McCain’s campaign now wants to suspend the VP debate?
CNN’s Dana Bash reports that McCain officials are “trying to negotiate with the Obama campaign and the presidential debate commission” to change next Thursday’s planned vice presidential debate into a McCain-Obama affair. The VP debate would be postponed to another date.
“That is what they are proposing,” Bash reported. “[McCain officials] understand very well that both the Obama campaign and the debate commission have no intention of delaying Friday’s debate, but…if there is no bailout
The gist all along is to reveal that Palin is a lightweight?!
In case longtime NWN readers are not grasping it, I view Sarah Palin in the same light in which I view Cruz Bustamante (Calif. Democratic gubernatorial nominee for governor) and Bill Simon (Calif. Republican gubernatorial nominee for governor).
ouch. what a nice way of putting it, though.
I-D-I-O-T-S.
Who the frack is Garth Algar?
Brasky:
And to quote Garth Algar, McCain basicaly said today:
“Wait up, guys. I fell on my keys.”
Nice.
I bet prior to the VP debate, Palin will cancel because a moose ate her homework.
Sep 24, 2008 – 2:52 pm
As a woman, I am embarrassed by Palin’s presumption.
As the rest, bring it on … lol
“Who the frack is Garth Algar?”
Of the Wayne’s World duo, the one who isn’t Wayne.
I moose DID eat her homework.
Crystal ball is 2-2 today. I’m knocking off to buy $50 worth of “quick picks”…
Oh, and “cluck, cluck, cluck” to the chickenshit McCain/Palin crew.
If you can’t handle Joe Biden (with a moderator), you can’t handle Putin.
At one point, didn’t the McCain campaign suggest that they debate every single Godamn day?
sorry, “a” moose, not “I” moose.
I think chicken man needs to come out of retirement.
My guess on how McCain’s team was thinking: McCain’s perceived strength is foreign policy (FP). If we have the FP debate while the credit crisis is swirling, then whatever bounce McCain gets will be buried by the credit noise. If we delay until the bailout is resolved, then we can talk FP after the credit hub-bub has died down, putting McCain’s FP strengths front and center.
The problem for McCain is that his desire for quick resolution of the bailout is offset by the natural tendency of other Republicans to not embrace socialistic big ticket items. Who knows, the bailout might require as much time to pull together as a state budget.
NADER CALLS MCCAIN’S MOVE TO POSTPONE DEBATE ‘POLITICAL STUNT’ SAYS MCCAIN TO BLAME FOR FINANCIAL CRISIS
“Senator John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and participation in the first presidential debate is pure and simple showboating. The Washington DC bailout by Bush and his Congressional allies of the Wall Street crooks and speculators is not dependent on Senator McCain’s return to Washington.
“He has been an advocate of the deregulation that caused this debacle and offers nothing significant to address it. However, tens of millions of Americans depended on Senator McCain to show up at Friday’s debate in Old Mississippi.
“They expected him to do so and have arranged their plans to watch him interact with Barack Obama. By turning his back on at least 50 million American voters anticipating Friday’s debate, he has dishonored his commitment and undermined the respect which he hoped the American people would accord him during his presidential campaign.
“I urge him to restore his honor and self-respect by ending this political stunt and maturely fulfilling his commitment on the presidential debate stage this Friday.
“Should he choose to maintain his present, impulsive course and leave an empty chair on the stage, I would be most pleased to take his place as the number three Presidential candidate in the race.”
Nader is being too kind. In parts of the the Bay Area and elsewhere, he’s the number two candidate and might get more votes than McCain. Doesn’t McCain seem like he has aged horribly over the past few months? He needs to retire to his vortex in Sedona…
Do I agree with Paul Burton? Uh-oh.
lol
Next move in our politics is to suspend not only debate but election. Clear reason is national emergency.
What new video today?
“The gist all along is to reveal that Palin is a lightweight?!”
huh…. don’t you think its a little late for that?
if they aren’t comfortable letting a couple of reporters ask questions, i can’t imagine they’re comfortable letting her field a flurry of questions during a debate, not to mention whatever Bidden can toss. maybe it takes longer to apply lipstick than expected.
(and yes, i recognize your disinclination to give Palin the time of day, but she IS part of the package — however unbelievable — and she is what ignited the bump, ’cause that certainly wasn’t McCain’s energetic zing.)