Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[Radbird]

Obama is expected to appear at a rally Saturday with his vice presidential choice in Springfield, Illinois.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/22/ ... index.html

[JL21]

This is really, really strange. I had a dream last night that Obama named Evan Bayh his vice presidential candidate. And then I got to meet him, and he gave me some Tums.

[Radbird]

JL the Prophet? Sounds like it's down to Bayh, Biden or Kaine with Hillary as a dark horse.

My money is on Kaine because he's a governor and Virginia is a key state. I don't see 2 senators on the ticket (although it worked okay in 1960).

[Radbird]

Fox says Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is still in the mix.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/22/obama-chose-vp/

Msnbc says she is too, with an interesting tidbit about Biden.

*** All's fair in secret keeping? OK, today's the day of ultimate paranoia in the press corps. Today's the day we second-guess our sources and ourselves, rationalizing potential head fakes by wondering: "Will the public care that they misled the big, bad press corps?" And so it goes today and tonight as no one will get any sleep waiting for that text message or that promised call or email. If this isn't a massive head fake and the big bad media is basically right in the three Dems we've all been staking out, then it still appears that Biden is giving off the most confident "I'm the guy" vibe. Yesterday, he was acting like a guy who might be preparing to be away from home for 70 days. Remember, Biden is home more than any other sitting senator. In fact, for a guy who's been in Washington since 1972, he's probably spent fewer nights in the city than the average first-term senator. Evan Bayh is keeping the lowest profile. Either he knows he's not the guy or he's earning big-time chits with the super secretive David-squared folks in Chicago. As for Kaine, he's supposed to be in Denver on Saturday, as is Kathleen Sebelius. Guess we ought to double-check that they actually get on Denver flights, right?

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/ ... 83508.aspx

[Fat Strat]

I haven't really been paying much attention (was I missed in this thread? I doubt it...) until this week as the VP candidates are starting to come in and the conventions are drawing close. Anyway, heard some interesting news on the radio this week and confirmed it on the web.

http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/rzi

Zogby/Reuters poll has McCain with a 5% point lead with 10% undecided.

Code: Select all

If the election for President of the United States were held today and the candidates were Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, for whom would you vote?
41% Barack Obama

46% John McCain 

3% Someone Else 

10% Not sure 

I find it interesting since I had assumed that Obama still had a decent sized lead. I'm sure other polls are showing other data, which is to be expected. But at least one major poll thinks McCain has done pretty well for himself in August.

[Popeye_Card]

I'm wondering what the breakdown would be if a poll was posed like this:

I'm voting FOR Obama
I'm voting AGAINST McCain
I'm voting FOR McCain
I'm voting AGAINST Obama

It just seems to me like few people really want to vote for McCain and what he wants to do. Moreso, they want to vote for the Republican and/or they don't like what Obama represents (whether that be a left-wing liberal, an inexperienced senator, or possible Muslim terrorist).

I guess the poll above could include "I'm voting down party lines regardless of candidates".

[JL21]

JL the Prophet? Sounds like it's down to Bayh, Biden or Kaine with Hillary as a dark horse.

My money is on Kaine because he's a governor and Virginia is a key state. I don't see 2 senators on the ticket (although it worked okay in 1960).

Nay, I just fell asleep with CNN on and I woke up with heartburn.

Kaine doesn't really have a lot of name recognition and I'll be blatantly honest- I know nothing about him. But going to the south for a VP candidate isn't a bad idea at all.

I'd think that Sebelius would alienate a lot of female voters who backed Clinton. Maybe I'm overthinking that.

[Fat Strat]

Strat, just because we disagree doesn't mean
you aren't missed in a political thread.

I know, I was just being snarky.

The Zogby poll is a 12 point swing in McCain's favor;
which, I will admit, shocks me.

My impression is that McCain has gone extremely
negative, and it's paid off well for him. Obama's
failure is the failure of all Democrats for the last
ten years: they go on the defensive rather than
throwing haymakers.

Obama! Fight back, damn you!!

I haven't really noticed the "extremely negative" stuff, but then again I haven't paid much attention to anything outside of the Olympics.

I wonder if a lot of this is because the Obama mystique, the "new candidate smell", might simply be wearing off.

[sighyoung]

I wonder if a lot of this is because the Obama mystique, the "new candidate smell", might simply be wearing off.

And there's my laugh of the morning. Thx, bro.

Pretty much true, as well as McCain's base returning and solidifying. August has been a very good month for McCain.

With the conventions coming up, we're going to see a lot more swings and statistical noise in the polls. And both campaigns are going to get a lot more negative shortly.

[Popeye_Card]

I wonder if a lot of this is because the Obama mystique, the "new candidate smell", might simply be wearing off.

And there's my laugh of the morning. Thx, bro.

Pretty much true, as well as McCain's base returning and solidifying. August has been a very good month for McCain.

With the conventions coming up, we're going to see a lot more swings and statistical noise in the polls. And both campaigns are going to get a lot more negative shortly.

If the early indications hold up, this race is going to be 99% about Obama. Either you're for him, or against him. Really, that's McCain's only chance of winning.

I'm getting the sinking feeling my fellow citizens are going to take the easy way out and elect McCain. Another president by default. Yippee.