To the extent Clinton was running a "wholly-positive, issues focused campaign through February", that's only because she thought she had it locked up. She didn't turn negative to respond to Obama, she turned negative because she was losing.

so you think that Clinton should have responded with negative campaign ads when Obama and Edwards engaged in their own "brutally negative" campaign tactics?

Clinton stayed positive because that is the kind of campaign she wanted to run -- and she felt she could win with a positive campaign. After super-tuesday, when it became obvious that there were no depths to which Obama would not sink (specifically with his race-pimping, and his use of GOP memes to denigrate Clinton) she reorganized her campaign and went negative.

People complain about negative campaigns, but they don't punish those who engage in it, and don't reward those who put together a positive, issue-oriented message. The CDS on display here proves that Mark Penn was right -- negative campaign tactics are the only way to win.

Posted at August 12, 2008 1:39 PM in response to The Penn Memos: Advocated Brutally Negative Campaign Against Obama

what's most amusing about all this "Penn-bashing" is that Obama ran a "brutally negative" campaign while Penn was merely writing memos about it.

Ultimately, what these memos show is that Penn was right, and that Clinton's decision to run a wholly-positive, issues focussed campaign through February was her "downfall".

Ultimately, all this Obamatrom outrage over Penn's "foreign" phrase is going to backfire on The One, because Penn's critique is solid (note that no one disputes the premise of Penn's proposal, i.e. that Obama's emphasis on his "multicultural" background is a positive only with the "elites" and a negative with average Americans).

The more focus that is given to the critique, the more it will become internalized by the American people. In their inability to control their CDS, the Obama Personality Cult is doing the GOP's work for them -- the last thing that Obama needs is for the media to keep discussing his "exotic" background, because middle America isn't "exotic."

Posted at August 12, 2008 8:10 AM in response to The Penn Memos: Advocated Brutally Negative Campaign Against Obama

I really don't know how seriously to take this at this point,

well I think it should be taken seriously as a map where candidates will have their work cut out for them, which states can be considered 'safe', and which one to 'write off'.

Posted at March 6, 2008 4:42 PM in response to SurveyUSA: Hillary And Obama Win Electoral College In Distinct Ways

two states are "tied" for both candidates.

In New Jersey, its 43-43 for Obama/McCain, and McCain is given NJ

Virginia is 47-47 for Obama/McCain, but its given to Obama

Both Michigan (44-44) and Tennessee (46-46) are tied in the Clinton/McCain match-up, but both are given to McCain.

My guess is that Obama will pick up NJ, and McCain will pick up VA providing Obama with a net 2 addition EC votes.

Clinton will probably pick up Michigan, but Tennesse would likely stay with McCain, giving clinton a net gain of 17 EC votes.

Posted at March 6, 2008 4:41 PM in response to SurveyUSA: Hillary And Obama Win Electoral College In Distinct Ways

Berube clearly doesn't understand the difference between soil that has been depleted of nutrients by over-cultivation (dirt of clinton), and virgin soil that holds the promise of abundant harvests for seasons to come (dirt on Obama).

And while he may be from Chicago, and has already heard all the dirt on Obama, guess what Mike? The rest of the country isn't Chicago.

Posted at March 4, 2008 6:23 PM in response to Are You Experienced?

I wonder how many of those 50 SDs made commitments to Obama based on the results of tonights contests -- and before the Rezko thing started to stink to high heaven?

Posted at March 4, 2008 6:17 PM in response to Hillary's Long-Shot Strategy -- Get Super-Dels To See Obama As "Paper Tiger"

Many of the political junkies posting on the net are expressing increasing disgust.

translation: The riders of the magical unit pony are up in arms over Hillary employing GOP frames, but are far from outraged when Obama does it to Hillary.

Posted at March 4, 2008 5:54 PM in response to Hillary's Long-Shot Strategy -- Get Super-Dels To See Obama As "Paper Tiger"

when did hillary "push it" during the debate. Obama's initial answers about Farrakhan were no different than his answer on McClurkin... he said he "denouced" what both had said... but in the case of McClurkin, used him in his rallies anyway.

Obama did everything he could to avoid repudiating Farrakhan's support until Hillary made him do it. Maybe he thought it was a joke, but as a gay man, I'm still waiting for Obama to repudiate McClurkin....

Posted at March 4, 2008 5:52 PM in response to How to Really Put that Farrakhan Endorsement to Rest

is there some chance that in the future, the blogosphere's boys club will recognize that women bloggers aren't pushing for Hillary to get out of the race, and stop slanting their coverage in such a sexist fashion?

Seriously, how many prominent female bloggers do you know who consistent write about the campaign from the persepective that you, and kos, and josh, and sully, and cole, big media matt, and ackerman, and the entire pundit class of DC?

Posted at March 4, 2008 5:31 PM in response to Hillary's Long-Shot Strategy -- Get Super-Dels To See Obama As "Paper Tiger"

Specious argument- it has the ring of truth, but it holds no water. No dice.

ask a specious question, get a specious answer.

Candidates don't really run primary campaigns in the same way a President runs the executive branch. When they aren't at a campaign event, they are making phone calls to supporters, or getting ready for the next campaign event (i.e. what bits of local color can they include? Who will be there that s/he has to act like they are BFFs? etc.)

So, when asked a dumb-ass question like "Do we want that kind of decision-maker in the whitehouse?" I'm going to treat it with the level of seriousness that it deserves, i.e. I'll be the Clintbot answering the Obot.

Posted at March 3, 2008 12:19 PM in response to Obama should drop out after Tuesday