Save this one... it'll come in handy with any smear emailers or undecideds you know...
The Candidate We Still Don’t Know
By Frank Rich
August 16, 2008
AS I went on vacation at the end of July, Barack Obama was leadingJohn McCain by three to four percentage points in national polls. When I returned last week he still was. But lo and behold, a whole new plot twist had rolled off the bloviation assembly line in those intervening two weeks: Obama had lost the election!
The poor guy should be winning in a landslide against the despised party of Bush-Cheney, and he’s not. He should be passing the 50 percent mark in polls, and he’s not. He’s been done in by that ad with Britney and Paris and by a new international crisis that allows McCain to again flex his Manchurian Candidate military cred. Let the neocons identify a new battleground for igniting World War III, whether Baghdad or Tehran or Moscow, and McCain gets with the program as if Angela Lansbury has just dealt him the Queen of Hearts.
Obama has also been defeated by racism (again). He can’t connect and “close the deal” with ordinary Americans too doltish to comprehend a multicultural biography that includes what Cokie Roberts of ABC News has damned as the “foreign, exotic place” of Hawaii. As The Economistsums up the received wisdom, “lunch-pail Ohio Democrats” find Obama’s ideas of change “airy-fairy” and are all asking, “Who on earth is this guy?”
It seems almost churlish to look at some actual facts. No presidential candidate was breaking the 50 percent mark in mid-August polls in 2004 or 2000. Obama’s average lead of three to four points is marginally larger than both John Kerry’s and Al Gore’s leads then (each was winning by one point in Gallup surveys). Obama is also ahead of Ronald Reagan in mid-August 1980 (40 percent to Jimmy Carter’s 46). At Pollster.com, which aggregates polls and gauges the electoral count, Obama as of Friday stood at 284 electoral votes, McCain at 169. That means McCain could win all 85 electoral votes in current toss-up states and still lose the election.
Yet surely, we keep hearing, Obama should be running away with the thing. Even Michael Dukakis was beating the first George Bush by 17 percentage points in the summer of 1988. Of course, were Obama ahead by 17 points today, the same prognosticators now fussing over his narrow lead would be predicting that the arrogant and presumptuous Obama was destined to squander that landslide on vacation and tank just like his hapless predecessor.
The truth is we have no idea what will happen in November. But for the sake of argument, let’s posit that one thread of the Obama-is-doomed scenario is right: His lead should be huge in a year when the G.O.P. is in such disrepute that at least eight of the party’s own senatorial incumbents are skipping their own convention, the fail-safe way to avoid being caught near the Larry Craig Memorial Men’s Room at the Twin Cities airport.
So why isn’t Obama romping? The obvious answer — and both the excessively genteel Obama campaign and a too-compliant press bear responsibility for it — is that the public doesn’t know who on earth John McCain is. The most revealing poll this month by far is the Pew Research Center survey finding that 48 percent of Americans feel they’re “hearing too much” about Obama. Pew found that only 26 percent feel that way about McCain, and that nearly 4 in 10 Americans feel they hear too little about him. It’s past time for that pressing educational need to be met.
What is widely known is the skin-deep, out-of-date McCain image. As this fairy tale has it, the hero who survived the Hanoi Hilton has stood up as rebelliously in Washington as he did to his Vietnamese captors. He strenuously opposed the execution of the Iraq war; he slammed the president’s response to Katrina; he fought the “agents of intolerance” of the religious right; he crusaded against the G.O.P. House leader Tom DeLay, the criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and their coterie of influence-peddlers.
With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.
McCain never called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired and didn’t start criticizing the war plan until late August 2003, nearly four months after “Mission Accomplished.” By then the growing insurgency was undeniable. On the day Hurricane Katrina hit, McCain laughed it up with the oblivious president at a birthday photo-op in Arizona. McCain didn’t get to New Orleans for another six months and didn’t sharply express public criticism of the Bush response to the calamity until this April, when he traveled to the Gulf Coast in desperate search of election-year pageantry surrounding him with black extras.
McCain long ago embraced the right’s agents of intolerance, even spending months courting the Rev. John Hagee, whose fringe views about Roman Catholics and the Holocaust were known to anyone who can use the Internet. (Once the McCain campaign discovered YouTube, it ditched Hagee.) On Monday McCain is scheduled to appear at an Atlanta fund-raiser being promoted by Ralph Reed, who is not only the former aide de camp to one of the agents of intolerance McCain once vilified (Pat Robertson) but is also the former Abramoff acolyte showcased in McCain’s own Senate investigation of Indian casino lobbying.
Though the McCain campaign announced a new no-lobbyists policy three months after The Washington Post’s February report that lobbyists were “essentially running” the whole operation, the fact remains that McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from Fannie Mae to Blackwater toAhmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia. No sooner does McCain flip-flop on oil drilling than a bevy of Hess Oil family members and executives, not to mention a lowlyHess office manager and his wife, each give a maximum $28,500 to the Republican Party.
While reporters at The Post and The New York Times have been vetting McCain, many others give him a free pass. Their default cliché is to present him as the Old Faithful everyone already knows. They routinely salute his “independence,” his “maverick image” and his “renegade reputation” — as the hackneyed script was reiterated by Karl Rove in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column last week. At Talking Points Memo, the essential blog vigilantly pursuing the McCain revelations often ignored elsewhere, Josh Marshall accurately observes that the Republican candidate is “graded on a curve.”
Most Americans still don’t know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.” Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.
To appreciate the discrepancy in what we know about McCain and Obama, merely look at the coverage of the potential first ladies. We have heard too much indeed about Michelle Obama’s Princeton thesis, her pay raises at the University of Chicago hospital, herstatement about being “proud” of her country and the false rumor of a video of her ranting about “whitey.” But we still haven’t been inside Cindy McCain’s tax returns, all hermultiple homes or private plane. The Los Angeles Times reported in June that Hensley & Company, the enormous beer distributorship she controls, “lobbies regulatory agencies on alcohol issues that involve public health and safety,” in opposition to groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The McCain campaign told The Times that Mrs. McCain’s future role in her beer empire won’t be revealed before the election.
Some of those who know McCain best — Republicans — are tougher on him than the press is. Rita Hauser, who was a Bush financial chairwoman in New York in 2000 and served on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in the administration’s first term, joined other players in the G.O.P. establishment in forming Republicans for Obama last week. Why? The leadership qualities she admires in Obama — temperament, sustained judgment, the ability to play well with others — are missing in McCain. “He doesn’t listen carefully to people and make reasoned judgments,” Hauser told me. “If John says ‘I’m going with so and so,’ you can’t count on that the next morning,” she complained, adding, “That’s not the man we want for president.”
McCain has even prompted alarms from the right’s own favorite hit man du jour: Jerome Corsi, who Swift-boated John Kerry as co-author of “Unfit to Command” in 2004 and who is trying to do the same to Obama in his newly minted best seller, “The Obama Nation.”
Corsi’s writings have been repeatedly promoted by Sean Hannity on Fox News; Corsi’s publisher, Mary Matalin, has praised her author’s “scholarship.” If Republican warriors like Hannity and Matalin think so highly of Corsi’s research into Obama, then perhaps we should take seriously Corsi’s scholarship about McCain. In recent articles atworldnetdaily.com, Corsi has claimed (among other charges) that the McCain campaign received “strong” financial support from a “group tied to Al Qaeda” and that “McCain’s personal fortune traces back to organized crime in Arizona.”
As everyone says, polls are meaningless in the summers of election years. Especially this year, when there’s one candidate whose real story has yet to be fully told.
I'm sure we will all be excited after the Democratic Convention. Lets keep the excitement in the air, the momentum rolling, and show our communities just how much local support Obama has by wearing our Obama t-shirts, hats, buttons, etc. on Saturday, August 30!
To join the event online, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpgyjf
Also, don't forget to tell your friends and family to wear their gear, too! Let every Obama supporter you know that they should wear their gear that Saturday no matter where they are. Know or meet a supporter who doesn't have anything to wear? Give them a spare button if you have one!
Let's show off all our wonderful Obama gear and make it a huge show of support for Barack Obama!
I just wanted to help spread the word about a cool fundraiser a group of women have put together. They have made a large, beautiful quilt representing all 50 states, 3 territories, D.C., American's Abroad, and Obama himself. You can win the quilt by either donating to the group or submitting a short explanation of why you support Obama/would want the quilt.
The group can be found here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/maingroup/QUILTERSFOROBAMA
A picture of the completed quilt-top here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/maingroup/QUILTERSFOROBAMA
Happy Donating!
p.s. I'm not crafty enough to sew or quilt... this isn't my group, just a fun fundraiser I thought I'd help promote!
I just thought I'd post this in case anyone hasn't heard yet.... MoveOn.org is offering one free Obama button to anyone who wants one. You can also get 3 for a $2 donation, or 45 for a $25 dollar donation.
https://political.moveon.org/obamabuttons/?id=-9159908-98tNPQx
I would do this soon while supplies last... everyone should at least get one for themselves, but it'd also be great to get more to pass out!
Carly
This link was posted on the Obama blog this afternoon: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/IAelectionHQ/
It's the campaign's direct resource for early voting in Iowa (which ANYONE can do!). If you live in Iowa, please take advantage of this!
Here is a list of 3 important dates for each state... the Registration deadline, deadline to apply for an absentee ballot and the deadline to return the absentee ballot. As usual, if anyone notices a date is wrong, please let me know!
Alabama
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 21
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by October 30
Absentee Ballot Due: Postmarked by Nov. 3 or received in person by 5 pm Nov. 3
Alaska
Absentee Ballot Due: Postmarked by Nov. 3
Arizona
Registration Deadline: Received by October 6
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by October 24
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 7 pm election day
Arkansas
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 5
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Mail or fax: received by Oct. 28
In person: by close of business, Nov. 3
Absentee Ballot Due: Mail: Received by 7 pm on Nov. 4
In person: Received by close of business, Nov. 3
California
Registration Deadline: Postmarked October 20
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received October 28
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 8 pm election day
Colorado
Registration Deadline: Postmarked October 6
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received October 24
Connecticut
P Registration Deadline: ostmarked October 21
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: No specific deadline, allow enough time for ballot to be mailed to you and returned to them! The earlier the better!
Delaware
Registration Deadline: Postmarked October 11
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by October 31
Florida
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 6
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by October 29
Georgia
Hawaii
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 4:30 October 28
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by close of polls on election day
Idaho
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 12
Illinois
Registration Deadline: Postmarked October 10
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by close of polls election day
Indiana
Registration Deadline: Postmarked between May 20 and October 6
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by October 27
Iowa
Registration Deadline: Received by October 24
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 5 pm on October 31
Absentee Ballot Due: Postmarked before election day; received by noon on Nov. 10
Kansas
Registration Deadline: Received by October 20
Absentee Ballot Due: Received 7 pm election day
Kentucky
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by October 28
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 6 pm election day
Louisiana
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by November 3
Maine
Registration Deadline: Received by October 14
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: No specific deadline, but allow enough time for a ballot to be mailed to you and for you to return it.
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 8 pm on election day
Maryland
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 14
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Mailed: by 4:30 pm on October 28
Faxed: by 11:59 on October 28
Absentee Ballot Due: In person: 8 pm election day
By mail: postmarked on or before election day
Massachusetts
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 18
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by noon November 3
Absentee Ballot Due: Received before the close of polls
Michigan
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 6. You can also register in person at the polls on election day.
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 2 pm on November 1
Minnesota
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: No specific time, but allow enough time for them to mail an application to you and for you to return it.
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by close of the polls on election day
Mississippi
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 3
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: At least two weeks before the election
Absentee Ballot Due: By mail: received by 5 pm Nov. 3
In person: Received by noon Nov. 1
Missouri
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 8
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 5 pm on October 29
Montana
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 4
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: ** Received by May 30
Nebraska
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 17 (3rd Friday before election day)
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 4 pm October 27
Nevada
Registration Deadline: Received by October 4
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 5 pm October 28
New Hampshire
Registration Deadline: Received by October 25
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 5 pm on election day
New Jersey
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: By mail: Received by October 28
In person: Received by 3 pm November 3
New Mexico
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 7
New York
Registration Deadline: Received by October 10
Absentee Ballot Due: Postmarked by November 3
North Carolina
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 10
**Absentee one-stop period = Oct. 16 – Nov. 1**
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received between September 15 and October 28
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 5 pm November 3
North Dakota
Registration Deadline: Not required
Absentee Ballot Due: Postmarked November 3
Ohio
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by noon November 1
Absentee Ballot Due: Postmarked prior to election day and received within 10 days of election day (but the sooner the better!)
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 5 pm October 31
Rhode Island
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 4 pm October 14
**Emergency ballot due by 4 pm on November 3
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by 9 pm on election day
South Carolina
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by the close of polls on election day
South Dakota
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 3 pm election day (yes, really! But the sooner the better!)
Absentee Ballot Due: Received by the close of the polls on election day
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Absentee Ballot Due:
Vermont
Registration Deadline: Postmarked October 29
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 5 pm November 3
Virginia
Washington
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: No specific deadline, but allow enough time for a ballot to be mailed to you and for you to return it
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 15
Application for Absentee Ballot Deadline: Received by 5 pm October 30
Wyoming
Registration Deadline: Postmarked by October 30
Here is a site that is very user-friendly and up-to-date for any American's voting from another country. This also applies to Americans serving in the military overseas as well as Americans in the military, including their family members if stationed with them, who are stationed anywhere outside there local electoral jurisdiction (like a county). The site:
https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/home.htm
Thanks Bert for pointing out this site!
Here is a list of absentee voter information sites, organized alphabetically by state. Please let me know if you have problems with any of the links. Also, please help me spread the word about this site... and post any other helpful links (with a brief explanation of what it's for) in the group "Information for Absentee Voters!" Thanks!
http://www.sos.state.al.us/Elections/AbsenteeVotingInfo.aspx
http://www.elections.alaska.gov/abinfo.php
http://www.activoteamerica.com/AZ/az.html
http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/pdfvag/az.pdf
http://www.votenaturally.org/all_about_voting_absentee.html
http://sos.state.ar.us/military/index.html
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_m.htm
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/Outreach/absentee/links/absgde_long.pdf
http://www.elections.colorado.gov/DDefault.aspx?
http://recorder.mesacounty.us/recorder/elections/2005_ABvoter_app_english.pdf
http://www.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?A=3179&Q=392214
http://www.longdistancevoter.org/drupal_files/voter_forms/Connecticut_absentee_english.pdf
http://elections.delaware.gov/services/voter/absenteeballot.shtml
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/absenteevoting.shtml
http://sos.georgia.gov/ELECTIONS/elections/voter_information/absentee.htm
http://hawaii.gov/elections/voters/voteabsentee.htm
http://www.idahovotes.gov/VoterReg/ABSENTEE.HTM
http://www.elections.state.il.us/VotingInformation/DownloadAbs.aspx
http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/forms/index.html
http://www.in.gov/sos/pdfs/abs-1.pdf
http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/voterreg/voterguidefiles/absentee.html
http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/electioninfo/absenteeinfo.html
http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections_registration_voting.html
http://www.elect.ky.gov/registrationinfo/absenteeballot.htm
http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/169/Default.aspx
http://maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/absentee06.html
http://www.elections.state.md.us/voting/absentee.html
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ELE/eleifv/howabs.htm
http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1633_11976_11987-28039--,00.html
http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=211
http://www.longdistancevoter.org/Mississippi
http://www.sos.state.ms.us/Elections/voterinfoguide.asp
http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=absentee
http://sos.mt.gov/elb/voter_information.asp
http://www.longdistancevoter.org/montana
http://www.sos.state.ne.us/elec/absentee_page.html
http://new.mynevadacounty.com/elections/index.cfm?ccs=666
http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/pdfvag/nv.pdf
http://www.sos.state.nh.us/vote.htm
http://www.longdistancevoter.org/drupal_files/voter_forms/NewHampshire_absentee_english.pdf
http://www.longdistancevoter.org/new_hampshire
http://www.njelections.org/absentee_doe.html
http://www.NJElections.org/form_pdf/Absentee_ballot-eng-7.18.07.pdf
http://www.sos.state.nm.us/Main/Elections/Election%20Changes.htm
http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/pdfvag/nm.pdf
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/voting.html
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/content.aspx?id=16
http://www.nd.gov/sos/electvote/voting/voting-absentee.html
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Text.aspx?page=3870&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/pdfvag/oh.pdf
http://www.state.ok.us/~elections/absentee.html
http://www.longdistancevoter.org/drupal_files/voter_forms/Oklahoma_absentee_standard.pdf
http://www.uhavavote.org/elect_q_a/ballots/ballot_abs.html
http://www.dos.state.pa.us/voting/cwp/view.asp?a=1193&q=442991&votingNav=|
http://www.elections.state.ri.us/mailvote.htm
http://www.state.sc.us/scsec/absent.htm
http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/registrationvoting.shtm
http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/electvoterpdfs/e1826V1-AbsenteeBallotApplication.pdf
http://tn.gov/sos/election/bymail.htm
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/earlyvote.shtml
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqabbm.shtml
http://elections.utah.gov/absenteevoting.html
http://elections.utah.gov/absentee%20form.pdf
http://www.vermont-elections.org/elections1/absentee.html
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Absentee_Voting/Index.html
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/register_absentee.aspx
http://www.wvsos.com/elections/voters/absentee.htm
http://elections.state.wi.us/category.asp?linkcatid=530&linkid=158
http://www.votesmart.org/voter_registration_resources.php?state_id=WY
http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/pdfvag/wy.pdf
