Bob Hotakainen of McCatchey newspapers relays some good news for Dems: “Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the Cook Political Report, says there’s a 60 percent to 65 percent chance that Democrats – who now have 53 of the 100 seats – will keep control of the Senate in 2013.”
I guess Romney won’t have to explain his secrecy on his personal taxes in the final debate, since the topic is foreign policy. It’s a shame, literally, that he gets a free ride on this issue in all three debates. Dems should slam his tax secrecy hard in ads in the swing states.
Dave Nyczepir & Shane D’Aprile have a post on “A roadmap for the final 72: How your campaign can make the most of the run-up to Election Day” up at Campaigns & Elections. One tip: “Among the toughest decisions the campaign has to make is how to spend late cash. While it’s easy to get sucked in by the low cost and speed of robocalls, Democrat Marty Stone says there are much better ways to use phones…”Don’t just think about 30-second blasts of messages, but think about where the voters are,” Stone says. “Do push-button auto calls, getting their opinions back.””
From the L.A. Times article by Christi Parsons and Seema Mehta, “Obama and Romney campaigns battle to mobilize voters” : “By the numbers, Obama would appear to have an advantage. He has more than double the paid staffers on the ground as Romney, and many are veterans of his earlier operation. In Ohio, which is seen as a must-win state for Romney, the Obama operation has opened 120 outposts, 45 more than it had in the state in 2008. Romney has 40.”
This is why campaigns need smart optics analysts.
What’s the matter with Tennessee? Put another way, why can’t Democrats get much traction in the Volunteer State? This, despite a long heritage of producing distinguished Democratic leaders like Andrew Jackson, Kefauver, the Gores and Fords, to name a few, and a history of reaping tremendous benefits from Democratic leaders, like FDR. Today, incumbent Republican Scott DesJarlais, embroiled in a particularly ugly scandal, still leads his Democratic adversary Eric Stewart in their 4th district race. Greg Johnson addresses the race and TN Dems frustrations in general in his Knoxnews.com post, “Is Democratic brand irretrievably and permanently damaged in Tennessee?”
Meanwhile, The Economist has a good update, “New South, Blue South?” on the purpling of TN’s neighbor, NC.
Do read Jason Easley’s PoliticusUSA post,”Audio Reveals Mitt Romney is Behind Employer Layoff Threats if Obama Wins ” and listen to the audio clip embedded in his post. Easeley reports: “According to the Working blog at In These Times, Romney said, “I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees.”
ProPublica’s latest rap video “Money is Speech: A Musical History of Campaign Finance” is a hoot.
Just saw a sneak preview of Speilberg’s “Lincoln,” which is all about the politicking to get the 13th amendment to the Constitution passed in the House of Reps, along with a character study of Lincoln, ably played by Daniel Day Lewis. It struck me as sad that a party once lead by giants like Lincoln and the abolitionists has now been totally taken over by moral midgets who suppress the citizenship rights of people because of the color of their skin. Sadder still that some of the most respected conservative journalists betray the GOP’s once proud heritage with their unconscionable silence about voter suppression.