in other news.....anyone want to go see McCain...tough time packing it so it seems
McCain rally tickets still available
By Lynn Hulsey
Staff Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2008
DAYTON — Tickets are still available for Sen. John McCain's Friday, Aug. 29, rally at Wright State University's Nutter Center in Fairborn.
McCain and his wife Cindy will appear at the event, dubbed the "Road to the Convention Rally." Doors open at 9 a.m. and the event begins at 11 a.m.
Tickets are being given away at county GOP offices in southwest Ohio and in Indiana and Kentucky.
"Looking forward to coming out to Dayton and having a great rally," McCain told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday.
Union members and progressive groups plan to protest outside at the south entrance to the Nutter Center, said Mike Gillis, political communications director for the AFL-CIO.
"We're going to be demonstrating on Sen. McCain's continuation of Bush trade policies, which have cost the Miami Valley over 33,000 jobs over the last eight years," Gillis said. "Job security is a thing of the past in Dayton."
There has been speculation that McCain would use the Dayton visit to announce his running mate but McCain said he's not reached a decision yet, so he's not sure if there will be an announcement here.
McCain rally tickets still available
By Lynn Hulsey
Staff Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2008
DAYTON — Tickets are still available for Sen. John McCain's Friday, Aug. 29, rally at Wright State University's Nutter Center in Fairborn.
McCain and his wife Cindy will appear at the event, dubbed the "Road to the Convention Rally." Doors open at 9 a.m. and the event begins at 11 a.m.
Tickets are being given away at county GOP offices in southwest Ohio and in Indiana and Kentucky.
"Looking forward to coming out to Dayton and having a great rally," McCain told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday.
Union members and progressive groups plan to protest outside at the south entrance to the Nutter Center, said Mike Gillis, political communications director for the AFL-CIO.
"We're going to be demonstrating on Sen. McCain's continuation of Bush trade policies, which have cost the Miami Valley over 33,000 jobs over the last eight years," Gillis said. "Job security is a thing of the past in Dayton."
There has been speculation that McCain would use the Dayton visit to announce his running mate but McCain said he's not reached a decision yet, so he's not sure if there will be an announcement here.
Where have i said it will not be covered.
This was my line of questioning
If McCain thinks what Obama is doing tonight is terrible in the long run and a sham.........why does he want to compete with it?
Let alone use one of his magic bullets (big announcement that guarantees coverage) that he has left
This was also the only conclusion that I came to. They get some press before the big speech where they can try to preempt it calling it bullshit essentially....get ahead of it instead of responding to it
It's definetly a risky move that Obama is doing tonight...he's definetly not running out the clock (to give a football analogy)
here were my thoughts on the decision
a) They believe the celebrity thing is a way to blow up this election in terms of turnout...they may lose some voters from the 2000/2004 electorate but they more then make up for it in increase of turnout. I've always said that he needs to change the electorate slightly to win.
b) They believe the celebrity thing will not be a negative at the of the day...remember we're only in august and I believe that Obama's camp has a pretty good idea of a timeline they want to run on...candidates sometimes peak way too early...Obama timed the primaries pretty well in terms of peaking....I also remember people were hating (me included) on Obama not making a move in the primaries (in December)....well he had a plan and stuck to it and was successful
c) Obama believe he is going to win on field/ground game (this goes with a). You can bet everything you have that those people in invesco field will go through lines tomorrow night where obama's camp collects their phone numbers...street addresses etc....75K+ people to add to the turnout list...that can turn a state that may decide the election. They could think this outweighs any negatives that may come of it.
Okay....i'm not quite sure if you can put into a 30 second TV commercial..."you'd be there too"
but anyways...it's a gamble no denying it
good read from WSJ about what can go wrong tonight
The general thinking among thinking journalists, as opposed to journalists who merely follow the journalistic line of the day, is that the change of venue Thursday night to Invesco Field, and the huge, open air Obama acceptance speech is…one of the biggest and possibly craziest gambles of this or any other presidential campaign of the modern era. Everyone can define what can go wrong, and no one can quite define what "great move" would look like. It has every possibility of looking like a Nuremberg rally; it has too many variables to guarantee a good tv picture; the set, the Athenian columns, looks hokey; big crowds can get in the way of subtle oratory. My own added thought is that speeches are delicate; they're words in the air, and when you've got a ceiling the words can sort of go up to that ceiling and come back down again. But words said into an open air stadium…can just get lost in echoes, and misheard phrases. People working the technical end of the event are talking about poor coordination, unclear planning, and a Democratic National Committee that just doesn't seem capable of decisive and sophisticated thinking. So: this all does seem very much a gamble. At a Time magazine event Wednesday afternoon, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe suggested the power of the stadium event is in this: it's meant to be a metaphor for the openness and inclusiveness that has marked the Obama campaign. Open stadium, 60,000 people – "we're opening this up to average Americans." We'll see. In my experience when political professionals start talking metaphors there's usually good reason to get nervous. (Questions: how many of the 60,000 will be Coloradans? Are a lot of the tickets going to out of staters? Are they paying for tickets? Is the Mile High event actually a fundraiser? What's the top ticket going for?)
I think BHO peaked already. His peak was at the beginning of the primaries. Toward the end, Hillary had all the MO. There is no way that right now BHO shouldn't have a big lead in the polls. Given this is a great year to be a democrat, with Bush and his approval ratings, it is amazing that BHO isn't running away with this. It just shows the Amerian public really doesn't trust this guy. Younger people are flocking to him, but they are just buying into the HOPE and CHANGE bullshit. The blue collar workers and middle class want red meat. They don't want to hear about Change.
you can have as many techincal problems inside to. i dont see a gamble here. your letting them put doubt in you. its a speech outside at a stadium. the only thing that is impressive is the number of people there. again, mccain would have that if he had a chance to get it. no politician is turning that down.
Senior Democratic officials are expressing serious concerns about the political risks posed by Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium Thursday evening.
From the elaborate stagecraft to the teeming crowd of 80,000 cheering partisans, the vagaries of the weather to the unpredictable audience reaction, the optics surrounding the stadium event have heightened worries that the Obama campaign is engaging in a high-risk endeavor in an uncontrollable environment.
A common concern: that the stadium appearance plays against Obama’s convention goal of lowering his star wattage and connecting with average Americans and that it gives Republicans a chance to drive home their message that the Democratic nominee is a narcissistic celebrity candidate.
“We already know he is a rock star, we already know he can bring 85,000 people together in a stadium. He has done it multiple times. He needs to talk to people who haven’t made up their minds yet,” said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.
“It’s likely that the campaign would do it differently if it had to do it again because the decision was made before the European trip,” said a senior Democratic elected officeholder who has worked closely with the Obama campaign. The GOP narrative of Obama as celebrity took root during that trip, where the Illinois senator played to large crowds of adoring Europeans.
Obama campaign officials acknowledged the apprehension Wednesday.
From the elaborate stagecraft to the teeming crowd of 80,000 cheering partisans, the vagaries of the weather to the unpredictable audience reaction, the optics surrounding the stadium event have heightened worries that the Obama campaign is engaging in a high-risk endeavor in an uncontrollable environment.
A common concern: that the stadium appearance plays against Obama’s convention goal of lowering his star wattage and connecting with average Americans and that it gives Republicans a chance to drive home their message that the Democratic nominee is a narcissistic celebrity candidate.
“We already know he is a rock star, we already know he can bring 85,000 people together in a stadium. He has done it multiple times. He needs to talk to people who haven’t made up their minds yet,” said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.
“It’s likely that the campaign would do it differently if it had to do it again because the decision was made before the European trip,” said a senior Democratic elected officeholder who has worked closely with the Obama campaign. The GOP narrative of Obama as celebrity took root during that trip, where the Illinois senator played to large crowds of adoring Europeans.
Obama campaign officials acknowledged the apprehension Wednesday.
