McCain visits swing states

Both of the presidential candidates spent the Saturday visiting key swing states. John McCain campaigned in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and finished the day in western New York. McCain will be hosting Saturday Night Live tonight. This is kind of irrelevant, but when I went to church (St. James in Solana Beach) today, police cars blocked the entrance to the church due to a bomb threat. Apparently, there was a large box in front of the main door to the church labeled "ammunition". In addition something- not sure what- was found inside the church. The only conclusion that I could come up to - other than just a mean prank - was Proposition 8. Many people are enraged by the Catholic church's support of prop 8; pretty outrageous that someone might have wanted to blow up a church for a petty prop. Will talk about McCain's result in SNL tommorow. Sorry for the tangent.

McCain in Defiance Ohio

To add what to Cameron said,McCain visited Defiance Ohio today (Thursday). According to McCain, he will not give up the fight in Ohio - b/c of his Maverickness- stating that they were going to defy pundit expectations in Ohio. The second day of a ten day bus trip in Ohio, McCain so far has toured in primarily Republican territory. Near the end of his trip, McCain will go eastward to liberal-leaning city Cleveland where he will attempt to win the hearts and minds of the independents and conservative Democrats. McCain has relentlessly continued to depict Senator Obama as a socialist and has told Ohioans that the economy will worsen under all round control by the Democrats (House/Senate/President).


http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/30/macohiod.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Is the End Near for McCain?

On Sunday McCain visited Cedar Falls Iowa, Zanesville Ohio, and Lancaster Ohio. On Monday he visited Dayton Ohio, Pottsville Pennsylvania, and Mentor Ohio. On Tuesday McCain visited Hershey Pennsylvania, and Fayetteville North Carolina. On Wednesday the citizens of Miami Florida have the privilege their very own Joe the Plumber Rally.
It is doubtful that McCain can win Pennsylvania or even Ohio at this point unless the polls are seriously flawed. It seems that he has also abandoned his short attempt to court voters in New Hampshire. There have been no big recent gains by McCain but only after the election can we know for sure.

McCain turns to New Mexico

Going to the wild west where true Jacksonian democracy was created, John McCain spent his Saturday campaigning in New Mexico. With the amount of swing states seeming to diminish as the polls show Obama with an ever-growing lead,McCain is aware of the urgent task at hand. To make up for the possibility of losing swing states such as Virginia,the McCain campaign has focused of late on New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. Speaking to a small group (under 1,000 people), McCain has stepped up the attacks on Senator Obama, "Senator Obama is measuring the drapes and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending and concede defeat in Iraq" (San Diego Union Tribune). McCain will be off to Iowa in vain search of a victory in the corn state (people there are not too pleased with McCain's stance on subsidies for corn ethanol).

McCain's Chances Looking Slim

John McCain visited Ohio on the 22nd in the cities of Findlay, Green, Cincinnati and Troy. On the 20th of October he visited Missouri, Colorado and Pennsylvania. According to pollster.com Obama has been solidifying his lead while McCain has barely improved his poll numbers. McCain is now making a late effort to win New Hampshire. Although he has made small gains in some swing states it is questionable whether he has enough time to recover.

McCain in North Carolina and Virginia

On Saturday, Barack Obama drew an estimated 100,000 supporters at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis Missouri. Meanwhile, John McCain campaigned in North Carolina and Virginia; both traditionally Republican states but currently classified as "swing states". While McCain drew fewer crowds (around 7,000 in N.C.), he gave his opponent no mercy. McCain criticized Obama's tax plan, calling it "socialism" and declared that under an Obama administration the IRS will be turned into "a giant welfare agency". In just over two weeks we will see whether the "Bradley Effect" will decide the winner.

McCain Debate

First make sure you have done the required reading here and here. The first is a great summary and the second is a quick fact check both from NPR.org. States rights and judicial nominations were part of the debate for a time which was great to hear although they were in the context of roe v. wade.  McCain has introduced a new character into the American political vocabulary "Joe the plumber" who took the place of "Joe six pack" or other personifications of the average American in the debate. The debate, like most political debates had no clear winner. But as pointed out by NPR during their post debate broadcast Obama accomplished his goal of creating trust with the American people, while McCain did not manage to discredit the Obama campaign. Although from a policy standpoint McCain surely appealed to the conservative voter it seems as though he failed to appeal to the swing voters.