Holding McCain Accountable - Way Late

by Steve Soto

Some convention and campaign-related pieces for your perusal today:

Obama’s ground game in places like Colorado dwarf the anemic efforts of the GOP so far despite what the polls actually say. The Wall Street Journal points out why Team Obama is focusing on a strong ground game in red and purple states to get beyond 270: If McCain pulls a surprise and takes Michigan, Obama must peel off several red or purple states to compensate for this. This is why Obama’s lack of attention to Clinton territory and domestic pocketbook issues since wrapping up the nomination in late May is so troubling. Who knows how better things may have looked if Team Obama had focused on candidate road work and messaging in these key states in June and July to define McCain as a Johnny-Come-Lately on his late-arriving concern for pocketbook issues, given his lockstep support for the Bush/Cheney neglect of Main Street for Wall Street?

The best thing Obama, Biden, and the Clintons could do next week while McCain is tied down in Minnesota is to make major tours through Michigan/Ohio/Pennsylvania to hammer him and the GOP on their record of screwing working Americans these last eight years. Instead, Obama is focusing on Virginia, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Montana, and plans to go with Biden to Midwestern battleground states. The campaign talks openly about using the convention to define the choice between the two parties, but a lot of this should have been done over the last eight weeks through a Tier Two surrogate effort that defined McCain before he could bamboozle the media and smear Obama. In fact, Obama’s new ads should have been running six weeks ago, instead of leaving it to this convention to show that Obama is engaged on real issues and the real differences between the parties.

The latest USAT/Gallup poll shows that Obama clings to a small lead within the margin of error with both registered and now likely voters compared to last month. McCain is seen as running a negative campaign, but his negative definition of Obama has worked to a degree. The Gallup poll reflects that Clinton voters are still not persuaded about Obama, yet a new NYT/CBS News poll shows a better picture. As for the polls, my two cents is that we should wait until about September 15th to start paying any close attention to them, so that the effect of both conventions has washed through public opinion and we can gauge what the electorate actually thinks when they are paying close attention down the home stretch.

David Broder strongly supports the Biden pick, and Biden will do well in going after McCain.