Tag: John McCain (page 10)

More and more media articles I'm reading tonight agree: McCain's suspension of his campaign was a political stunt, a second Hail Mary pass to deal with falling poll numbers and growing worry among voters that Sarah Palin just is not qualified or prepared to be Vice President and that he makes rash decisions out of self-interest and tries to pass them off as patriotism.

Here's one I like a lot, it covers almost all the bases: Sell! Sell! McCain is Tanking in the Boston Globe.

Between his grandstanding on the economy today -- claiming he was going to suspend his campaign because his presence was needed in D.C. to ensure a bailout deal was made, when he has little economic expertise and has never served on a banking committee, and then failing to arrive until mid-afternoon, well after Dems and Republicans had crafted their tentative agreement but finding time to appear on all three networks and still refusing to abide by his debate commitment tomorrow night -- and the woefully inept performance of Gov. Sarah Palin on the Katie Couric interview -- he's got to be toast.

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Another sign John McCain's Hail Mary pass to use Sarah Palin to save his failing campaign isn't working: Time Magazine/CNN's swing state polls released today. The states polled: Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Montana and West Virginia

[T]he new poll suggests that the appeal of McCain's running mate Sarah Palin may not be as much of a game changer as some believed a month ago. Obama has a double-digit lead among women in Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while he ties with McCain in Montana, and is ahead only 3 points in West Virginia.

More good news on the independent/moderate voters: [More...]

Via Huffington Post, Sen. John McCain canceled his taped appearance on Dave Letterman's show today as part of his announcement he was suspending his campaign, but instead went down the street to be interviewed by Katie Couric.

The Public Policy Project poll of Colorado voters I wrote about last night is out. Obama leads McCain, 51% to 44%. Gov. Sarah Palin is tanking his ticket.

Sarah Palin's popularity with Colorado voters over the last couple weeks has plummeted, and as it has Barack Obama has opened up his biggest lead yet in a PPP survey of the state.

Immediately after the Republican convention 41% of Coloradoans said John McCain's choice of Palin to join him on the ticket made them more likely to vote for him while 38% said it made them less likely to do so. Now the number of people saying Palin's selection makes them less likely to vote for McCain has climbed to 47% with the number of people viewing it favorably dropping to 38%.

Full poll results here (pdf). And good news for Rep. Mark Udall in the Senate race: He's leading Bob Shaffer 48 to 40. [More...]

Quinnipiac released new poll results today:

By 19 - 24 point margins, voters in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin say Democrat Barack Obama, not Republican John McCain, is the candidate of change, helping lift Sen. Obama into the lead in these battleground states, according to four simultaneous Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters in these battleground states, conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released today.

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Steve Schmidt, a top McCain strategist, said the TV ad was a “real buy” that would air nationally and “will air across the depth and breadth of the battleground states.” Schmidt also belittled the media for not providing a “symmetry” to their probing of Obama’s background compared to the scrubbing that the team of McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has received.

Original Post: 9: 52 a.m.

McCain Ad Attacks Obama and Chicago Machine

Displaying his customary lack of self-awareness, John McCain has released an ad about Obama and the Chicago machine on the first day of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens trial.

I read the ad and substitute Gov. Sarah Palin for Barack Obama -- and Ted Stevens and his cronies, including a lobbying firm with close ties to Stevens, for those named from Chicago. [More...]

Update: The Washington Post reports Obama will fight big in Florida, spending at least $39 million in the state. He says if the Dems win Florida, it will be almost impossible for McCain to win the election.

In a Florida poll taken after last Monday's economic tumble, the Miami Herald reports John McCain has a statistically insignificant 2 point lead over Barack Obama.

If you scroll through the graphic of results, you will see that McCain leads on commander-in-chief issues but Obama leads on economic issues. That's good news for Obama because 43% believe the next president's most important issue will be fixing the economy while only 14% think Iraq is the most important and only 12% think managing terrorism is most important.

The New York Times compares Barack Obama and John McCain's effect on the Supreme Court.

Mr. McCain has promised the right wing of the Republican Party that he would put only archconservatives on the Supreme Court. Even moderate conservatives like Anthony Kennedy, the court’s current swing justice, would not have a chance.

Mr. McCain, whose Web site proclaims his dedication to overturning Roe v. Wade, would appoint justices who could be expected to lead the charge to eliminate the right to abortion. The kinds of justices for whom Mr. McCain has expressed a strong preference would also be likely to undermine the right of habeas corpus, allowing the government to detain people indefinitely without access to lawyers or family members.

After more examples of the court we'd get under McCain, the Times evaluates Obama's effect: [More...]

If you compare the records of Barack Obama and John McCain, it’s clear that Barack Obama stands with women on the issues that are important to them: equal pay for equal work, the right to choose, comprehensive health care reform. Examples, as received from the Obama campaign, below:

Bump and Update: Time Magazine picks up on McCain's gaffe in the Pain in Spain.

Update: Here is the audio of McCain's interview in English:

TPM reports the Spanish press is abuzz with McCain's latest gaffe about Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero. TPM's original reports are here and here.

It appears McCain got confused and thought Zapatero was from a Latin American country.

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A Survey USA Today poll of New Mexico voters released today finds Sen. Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by 8 points:

In an election for President of the United States in New Mexico today, 09/17/08, Democrat Barack Obama defeats Republican John McCain by 8 points, according to this SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KOB-TV in Albuquerque. Today, it's Obama 52%, McCain 44%.

McCain leads by 11 among whites; Obama leads by 41 among Hispanics. Obama leads by 12 among voters younger than Obama. McCain leads by 10 among voters older than McCain. Half of voters say the economy is most important. Among those voters, Obama leads 3:2. Obama leads among the more educated. McCain leads among the less educated. Obama leads among the less affluent. McCain leads among the more affluent.

The Reuters/Zogby poll released today has Sen. Barack Obama leading John McCain by 2 points, wiping out McCain's pre-convention lead.

Obama leads McCain among likely voters by 47 percent to 45 percent, within the poll's 3.1 percent margin of error. He gained ground in the last month among independent and women voters and on the question of who could best manage the faltering U.S. economy.

Obama wiped out McCain's 5-point edge in a Reuters/Zogby poll taken in August before the nominating conventions, a sign the Arizona senator could be drifting back to earth from what other opinion polls showed was a post-convention surge.

Sarah Palin isn't helping McCain with anyone except his core base. [More...]