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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9 point lead. Hey!
Great poll! I don’t think Barack will win by that much. He will win. There’s too much against McCain and lightweight Palin.
Good talk by Obama on the crisis.
Barack sounds very good in the press conference. Calm, focused, presidential.
No blank check bail-out!
I like what Obama is saying; I don’t believe a word McCain is saying about the money crisis. He’s still pretty vague.
Pretty interesting. How tight are Schwarzenegger and Clinton?
Pretty good Obama remarks. I think he’s clear enough. The plan needs more oversight, relief for mortgage holders, don’t reward the corrupt CEOs. I get it.
Obama is better in his statements about the Wall Street bail-out. I wonder if McCain is going to block out. Harry Reid said he was for it. Who knows?
“Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former Hillary backer who says that Obama is ‘elitist.’”
Her husband is Evelyn de Rothschild.
E V E L Y N!
He plays polo.
Yeah – Obama is the elitist.
So the FBI is digging through the guts iof the 4 key players in this financial fiasco? Sounds like those forensic accountants I asked for are on the job.
Vegas has also been hurt by the many Southern California indian casinos that are closer and offer gambling and entertainment in resort settings. You can barely watch TV for 10 minutes in L.A. without running across one of their ads.
Barney Frank on Charlie Rose last night seemed very clear about putting teeth in the bailout, this is the start of a process and that Wall Street is going to no longer be treated with kid gloves. I found his comments fairly encouraging.
http://www.charlierose.com/guests/barney-frank
Obama is smart and well educated. McCain was next to last in his class.
Obama accomplished much in his life. McCain crashed five planes – after stealing two of them.
Obama has been resolute and unflinching. McCain switches positions daily.
Obama has the best interests of the country at heart. Mccain made propoganda films for the No. Vietnamese.
Obama had fresh, exciting ideas for the future. McCain is a tired, old throwback to the corrupt GOP salad days.
Obama has a wonderful family, with a Christian upbringing. McCain cheated on his wife while she was in the hospital and went off with a beer heiress.
Obama started out as a community activist for very little money. McCain was – and is – embroiled in the S&L Keating 5 scandal.
Obama selected a true American statesmen for VP. McCain listened to his corrupt religous right breadwinners and selected a laughing stock.
Geez…I could go on and on. Are you all really sure Mccain is your man? Will you always place party over country – at all times, and in all ways? That is not really American, ya know?
FOX News has Obama over McCain, 45-39.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,427241,00.html
Well, Barney Frank is a very balanced sort of guy …
>Dana:
Barney Frank on Charlie Rose last night seemed very clear about putting teeth in the bailout, this is the start of a process and that Wall Street is going to no longer be treated with kid gloves. I found his comments fairly encouraging.
http://www.charlierose.com/guests/barney-frank
Sep 24, 2008 – 10:12 am
You can have a lot more fun in Vegas.
>Dana:
So the FBI is digging through the guts iof the 4 key players in this financial fiasco? Sounds like those forensic accountants I asked for are on the job.
Vegas has also been hurt by the many Southern California indian casinos that are closer and offer gambling and entertainment in resort settings. You can barely watch TV for 10 minutes in L.A. without running across one of their ads.
Sep 24, 2008 – 10:07 am
Truly risible.
>Brasky:
“Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former Hillary backer who says that Obama is ‘elitist.’”
Her husband is Evelyn de Rothschild.
E V E L Y N!
He plays polo.
Yeah – Obama is the elitist.
Sep 24, 2008 – 9:45 am
… YET, I once knew a woman named Evelyn. (Though it’s a name more frequently encountered in old movies.
I wear polo shirts. (Though I have been to a polo match.)
Block out?
>marcus waldron:
Obama is better in his statements about the Wall Street bail-out. I wonder if McCain is going to block out. Harry Reid said he was for it. Who knows?
Sep 24, 2008 – 9:43 am
Obama’s good again in his press conference.
Has Team McCain let Palin answer press questions yet?
What’s the record for no press conferences?
They’re friendly. I wouldn’t describe them as tight.
You may remember a webcast here with the two of them. They seemed to be trying to out-do one another. It was philanthropy thing.
>Jack Aubrey:
Pretty interesting. How tight are Schwarzenegger and Clinton?
Sep 24, 2008 – 8:56 am
You never know.
>Capitol Boy:
Great poll! I don’t think Barack will win by that much. He will win. There’s too much against McCain and lightweight Palin.
Sep 24, 2008 – 8:17 am
Yeah, that’s the highest so far. Other credible polls have it 4-6 points.
>Jonas Blane:
9 point lead. Hey!
Sep 24, 2008 – 8:08 am
Palin does an interview today with Katie Couric.
Still no press conferences. This is the record, naturally.
>marcos leon:
Obama’s good again in his press conference.
Has Team McCain let Palin answer press questions yet?
What’s the record for no press conferences?
Sep 24, 2008 – 11:21 am
Palin is at least getting a head start on her tenure in an “undisclosed location.”
“FOX News has Obama over McCain, 45-39.”
Commie bastards!
lol
This is great! This may not be even close.
** 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.
mccain wants to delay the friday debate?!
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/24/mccain-calls-for-a-delay-of-fridays-presidential-debate/
McCain camp just announced he is suspending campaigning for awhile to work on the economy, is asking the Obama camp to do the same and agree to postpone Friday’s debate so they can both concentrate on the important business at hand. Which of course is a clever strategy to try to break Obama’s “Big Mo” and puts Obama in a tight spot if he declines.
Schmidt obviously isn’t dumb. When it’s all heading for the crapper, shake the cup and get some new dice going.
Being president is about multitasking.
Do we suspend our hunt for the terrorists who committed 9-11 just because the markets tank?
No – if there’s a vote, take it before or after the debate.
If McCain can’t handle being a senator AND a presidential candidate, he obviously can’t be president.
Mister Bradley, my sources tell me to expect an on-camera Obama response around 1:15 or 1:20 Pacific Time.
Maybe Obama will hold up his Blackberry and say that thanks to McCain’s invention he can be in 24/7 contact with the Senate without being there.
Why should he not do that? John McCain’s leadership led to the invention of the smart phone. Right?
CNN’s audio feed:
http://tinyurl.com/yuqh2s
Blitzer just did a tease that Obama’s appearance is “coming right up” as they say.
I hope you’re kidding, Pete
Fox webpage is running a breaking news alert that “Obama rejects call to postpone debate.” Yet he apparently hasn’t spoken yet? A breached embargo or reporting rumor and speculation? (yes, I know, unthinkable)
lol
Wilbur:
Maybe Obama will hold up his Blackberry and say that thanks to McCain’s invention he can be in 24/7 contact with the Senate without being there.
Sep 24, 2008 – 1:03 pm
Mister Bradley, did Mister McCain also invent the Treo? If so, I may consider voting for him since Jack Bauer uses a Palm Treo 700p on the Sprint network. I expect he will upgrade to the Treo 800w, but only if Chloe can still upload floor plans to that model PDA.
brilliant move by McCain and your friend Schmidt to try to pretend he is above the fray and wants to focus on the economic meltdown — the new depression that his votes and his economic policies and advisers caused!
They should just cancel the phony ‘debates’ anyway since the twin parties of corporate misrule won’t be talking about real solutions like cutting the bloated military budget, breaking up the monopolistic predator banks, or sending the criminal speculator CEOs to federal prison.
Now that the republicrats and their wall street benefactors are scrambling for their life rafts and golden parachutes, we need more than ever a real debate on the growing crisis that includes the voices and ideas of Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, and Cynthia McKinney. Nader warned of the consequences of deregulation in 2000 yet the Democrats did nothing. Now they offer the appearance of oversight and regulation.
William Greider in the Nation calls the bailout ‘a historic swindle’; Joseph Stiglitz ‘the fruit of hypocrisy’. As a fellow socialist put it in 1981: “We must preserve free enterprise — merger, loophole, subsidize!”
Nice judo moves on Obama’s part. He’s seeking to work bipartisanly with McCain to issue a joint statement on the bailout plan outlining their areas of agreement. But thinks they owe it to the American people to go forward with the debate. Even twice got Brasky’s dig about multitasking in there, but nothing about PDAs
I’m not going to reveal my private e-mails on this stunt.
oh, pretty please? or can we get a college kid to hack your account?
Now I notice in the instant replays and spin cycle that the multitasking dig was placed immediately precedent to the let’s go forward with the debate part, so as to be part of the headline soundbite.
nicely done.
“Team McCain” is RUNNING SCARED.
No obscenity? lol
Bill Bradley:
I’m not going to reveal my private e-mails on this stunt.
Sep 24, 2008 – 1:59 pm
I can sure smell shit from an outhouse, my friends.
Outhouse or not, McCain is full of shit.
He is losing. He knows it. He is trying to change the conversation because he can’t win his own issue debate.
Haven’t see Obama’s comments yet, but glad to know I was “on message” before there was a message.
I suggest a 527 ad of just a picture of McCain and the sound of clucking chicken.
Probably could get away with a 15 second spot there…
the minibite at the core:
“It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once. It’s more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people.”