The End Of The Campaign Of John McCain

There were many excuses for the Republican Electoral College debacle last night. It was not very close and it had not been for two months.

In fact, all the public opinion polls were very consistent. There was only one day after the conventions when a single poll indicated John McCain was ahead in the 2008 Presidential campaign .

The excuses for the McCain defeat are many. He was outspent by Barack Obama four to one and he had the unpopular Geoge Bush to run away from. As a result, there never was a blue state from the last election in play and his attempt to defend every red state in a Democratic year was not going to win the day.

Certainly, the timing of the current economic mess did not help his cause. In addition, a recent Pew Research study reported negative media coverage of McCain's campaign outpaced his opponent nearly three to one.

So, it can be argued that these obstacles were the reason for his lopsided defeat. There is no doubt they were a contributing factor but the loss in this election is really due to the candidate and his dubious campaign.

Remember that John McCain won his Party's nomination months before Barack Obama did. However, despite a Republican advantage of months of political time, the Obama campaign was better financed, better organized, and had more paid staff in all the battleground states on Election day.

Consider that McCain's response to the economic crisis in September was incoherent. He first said that the fundamentals of the economy were sound. Next, he suspended his campaign for several days to return to Washington because of the economic crisis. He would participate in the first debate after restarting his campaign, without any explanation behind these actions. It made him look erratic and indecisive in the economic crisis.

McCain's advanced age was always an issue for voters. His energy and campaign schedule were very light especially early in the campaign. Meanwhile, the inexperience of Sarah Palin did not provide comfort for voters, since in a McCain Presidency, she would be only a heartbeat away from becoming Commander and Chief.

Overall, the McCain campaign message was muted and subject to change. A campaign of experience would become a campaign of change. Until Joe The Plumber, McCain could not even explain how his tax policy was different from that of the Obama campaign.

Indeed, it was striking how Barack Obama stayed true to his message while John McCain's campaign was unfocused. A thirty year insider and Senator, running as a maverick, on a theme of change, would prove to be to difficult to sell to many 2008 voters.

In his gracious speech last night, John McCain said that the "failure is mine." His lasting legacy will be as a war hero, Senator and as a losing Presidential candidate that in his concession speech did not lie.

An Election Day 2008 Prediction In Rhyme

Election Day 2008 is finally here.
An end to the campaign of change and hope is now near.
Its also the end of debates, polls, rallys and smear.
Voting today will elect a man who will serve for four years.

It can't end soon enough since I am trying to avoid all those media ads that we constantly hear.
So, who will be the choice when all the votes are counted and the final Electoral College tally appears?
It seems that this is a big Democratic year. Increasing seats in Congress will make the Dems grin from ear to ear.

Raising income taxes never did bring voter fear.
So, high voter turnout will leave republicans in the rear.
We think the choice will make the media cheer, since Barack Obama will be the President Elect next year.
"Mac is back" was a slogan that not enough voters held dear.
It may not be a landslide but the final results will be clear.

For Republican's though all is not lost even though today they will pay a high cost.
The next election may make the Republicans boss.
The fact is that in American politics, winning is often followed by loss.

Election 2008: The Vote For The Most Strange

In every Presidential election there are some images that we remember. Images that have been captured by the media during the heat of the campaign.

Often, these images make us wonder why any sane person would run for political office. Certainly, these images show an absence of common sense and behavior difficult for most of us to explain.

Indeed, there are many examples of bad taste in the 2008 Presidential election campaign. Still, here is my vote for the top five things that will be remembered for a lack of good judgement and even as down right strange.

1. In July, The New Yorker had a picture of what it called a "satire" of Michelle and Barack Obama on its front cover. The "satire" magazine cover showed the Oval Office with Barack Obama as a tribal African. Michelle Obama was depicted in an afro-hairdo with a machine gun.

A picture of Osama Bin Laden was displayed on the wall and an American flag was on fire. Exactly, what was the editor thinking to allow the magazine to publish this picture?

2. Recently, Al Franken, who is not a credible candidate for the Senate but is running even with his opponent, Norm Coleman, was shown as a cartoon character, sticking out his tongue and wearing a beanie in a recent partisan Republican mailing. What ever happened to winning with new ideas in political election campaigns?

3. A Halloween display of Sarah Palin hung in effigy and John McCain emerging from a chimney in flames. These images courtesy of a West Hollywood couple were disturbing, misguided, and pretty strange. It just shows that in America, one man's hate crime could well be another man's Hollywood design.

4. A McCain campaign worker that pretends to be the victim of an attack by an Obama supporter at an ATM. She cuts a backwards B into her cheek in a vain attempt to give credit to her false claim. She was charged for filing a false police report for her deception and cheeky crime of physical pain.

5. A final example of the strange in Election 2008 comes from a quartet of young women in Brooklyn. They are pictured in a poster under the heading "Girls Say Yes to boys who say Obama".

Indeed, it's a poster that exists as an acknowledgement of the "dumbing down" of American society. Certainly, a poster that said "Girls say yes we can, to boys who say Obama" would have been far more appropriate in this strange election year.

The Final Days Of The Election Of 2008

There are just six days to go in the 2008 Presidential Election. At this late stage in the race, there are several things that have become quite clear. Barack Obama has run a better campaign than John McCain.

He has had the discipline to stay on message and performs very well in front of a teleprompter. Obama's campaign is better organized and the candidate has looked very "Presidential" in all of the debates.

In general, McCain has suffered from the timing of the financial crisis and the unpopularity of the current Administration. The truth is that McCain has more than a 20% higher approval rating than George W. Bush. The fact that this is still a fairly close election in a Democratic year seems hard to believe, but that is what the pollsters say.

However, there has not been one public opinion tracking poll since early September that has indicated that Barack Obama has trailed in this election. Current polls in the major battleground states show Obama tied or slightly in the lead. In western states that usually vote Republican like New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, Obama looks like he is well ahead and will probably win.

There is little doubt that if the election were held today, Barack Obama would become the next President of the United States in 2009. He will win next week if nothing changes between now and then. However, there is still one week to go in election 2008 and the last week of any Presidential Election can be the most volatile.

Remember in 2000, George Bush had his college record of DUI appear in the major media markets across the country. This revelation evaporated his four point lead in the polls over the last few days before the election and led to a surge by Al Gore that almost cost Bush the Presidency.

What can happen in the final days to change the outcome in election 2008? It probably would be an external event to the campaign. A foreign policy crisis or a national security event. A new revelation about Barack Obama, his background, his ideas or even dubious comments from his wife. There are certainly many different rumors in the blogosphere of damaging tapes containing information that will soon be released that could alter this race.

Indeed, we have entered the final days of the Election of 2008. So, bring a healthy dose of skepticism, and hold on tight because it may be a wild ride. In politics, it even has a name, its often called the October surprise.

Joe Biden Moments Are Hard To Understand

Joe Biden moments continue to appear with regularity in the Democratic Presidential Election campaign of 2008.

Last week, Joe could be seen shouting into a microphone that the major issue in this campaign year is a three letter word and then he proceeds to spell out for the audience the four letters in the word Jobs.

Its a pretty funny moment if you have not already seen the video, but its just another in a series of Biden gaffes in this campaign. Surely, its not any wonder why Barack Obama has recently tried to keep this guy away from a microphone.

The truth is that Joe Biden has been isolated from the traveling press, taken off of the campaign trail for a week and has not held a press conference in over a month. Nevertheless, Joe Biden moments just keep on coming.

Indeed, its very difficult to explain how an intelligent career politician of more than three decades can make so many verbal and political mistakes. In fact, here is the latest strange Joe Biden quote at a fundraiser on the campaign trail.

"Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Biden continued: "I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. "

So, two weeks before election day and Joe Biden is turning the voters attention to Barack Obama's inexperience in handling foreign policy? In addition, he is telling the American voter that there will surely be a foreign policy crisis early next year and that a Democratic administration's handling of that crisis will be unpopular.

It seems that the logical conclusion of this speech to a voter trying to avoid Biden's bleak foreign policy outlook would be to vote for the experience of John McCain over the inexperience of Barack Obama. Biden must have realized that his speech would make news in the press.

Biden's foreign policy assessment may well be true but why bring it up now, only two weeks before election day, with the Democrats significantly ahead in every major public opinion poll? The discussion acts to create foreign policy uncertainty which doesn't politically help Barack Obama but could assist the failing campaign of John McCain.

Consider that all the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates were given high level foreign policy briefings last week. This briefing may have led to Bidens recent foreign policy comments. Comments which politically represent yet another Joe Biden moment in Election 2008.

If the polls are right and do not change, in two weeks, Joe Biden will only be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. The next four years of Joe Biden moments would surely be entertaining but they could also become a full time job (three letters) for this country to understand.

Other articles on Joe Biden on the eWorldvublog:

Joe Biden Moments May Get John McCain Elected

Joe Biden's Moment Of Truth Will Not Help Obama

Joe The Plumber Saves The Day For John McCain

The third and final Presidential debate was held last evening at Hofstra University. It was certainly the best performance by John McCain of the three debates.

In this debate, the candidates finally discussed Barack Obama's plan to raise income taxes on 5% of americans during a recession. During the debate, McCain forced a discussion of Obama's recent response to a regular guy on the campaign trail by the name of Joe the Plumber.

Joe the Plumber was concerned about Obama's income tax policy and Obama responded that he was going to "spread the wealth around". Wealth redistribution, class warfare and the dubious effect of raising taxes during a recession are winning issues for the Republicans.

However, until Joe the Plumber's question about raising taxes and Obama's wealth redistribution response, it was hard to distinguish any real policy difference between the two candidates on the issue of income taxes.

So, Joe the Plumber was able to do with one question what the incoherent campaign of Republican John McCain has heretofore failed to do. Focus a debate on the wisdom of raising income taxes during a recession.

In general, John McCain was on the offensive all night but Barack Obama was smooth as usual on defense. The truth is that based on style points there is really no contest between these two candidates. Barack Obama will win on style every time.

However, in what may well be the final public debate of his political career, McCain began to highlight a pattern in Obama's background that suggest policy positions that are far to the left of the centrist, middle class Democratic candidate that Obama portrays himself to be today.

Recent public opinion polls suggest a Democratic sweep in election 2008. Indeed, this Presidential race may already be over. However, there are still nearly three weeks until election day and three weeks is a very long time in Presidential politics.

The fact is that Joe the Plumber has saved the day for John McCain. In three weeks, we will see if an income tax question from a concerned plumber was the turning point for McCain's Presidential campaign. A campaign which currently appears to be on life support and close to the political abyss.

This Debate Was A Long Campaign Commercial

If you missed the second Presidential debate last night, you saved ninety minutes of your life. The truth is that this wasn't a Presidential debate, it was a boring replay of the same tired debate questions answered in the same fashion by each of these two Presidential candidates for months.

Tom Brokaw was the debate moderator and was too concerned over the rules. The selected questions were standard and plain. The format was suppose to be a town hall meeting but it felt like a long, campaign commercial.

The only thing that was original was that John McCain proposed a new government plan to buy back every bad mortgage and renegotiate the terms of those loans. McCain's new mortgage plan apparently would add another 300 billion dollars to the 700 billion dollar bailout package that the Congress passed last week. His plan lacked detail in the debate and was not well explained.

For McCain, this mortgage plan looked like another "Hail Mary" in his effort to stay competitive in this election. The fact is that for the last two weeks, McCain has been steadily dropping in all the public opinion polls. Most polls now show him trailing by a total of between five and nine percentage points with a month to go in this presidential election.

It is hard to see how the outcome of this debate changes anything in Election 2008. Once again, Barack Obama did not make a major mistake and looked polished, articulate and Presidential. As a Republican candidate with the chain of the unpopular George Bush (27% approval rating) wrapped tightly around his neck, John McCain was swimming against a strong Democratic tide to begin with.

However, its now apparent that McCain may well lose this election on the mistakes he has made in response to the current mortgage crisis in the economy.

Consider that he suspended his campaign for three days to return to Washington D.C. to help with the bailout bill. Then, he resumes his campaign in time for the first Presidential debate but does not explain why he suspended his campaign in the first place. (see: McCain Does Not Explain His Suspended Campaign on eworldvu.com). Four days later the bailout bill that he suspended his campaign for goes down in defeat. It was to be loaded with pork in the Senate and passed last Thursday.

So, less than one week after that unpopular 700 billion dollar bailout bill passed Congress, John McCain has another plan and now wants to add an additional 300 billion dollars to the bill that has just passed. He announces his new plan in the middle of a debate without any real explanation or detail. Barack Obama has accused McCain of being erratic and chaotic in this economic crisis, its sure getting pretty hard to argue with that.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama's rhetoric on his government spending plan continues to be totally unrealistic. Last night, he stated that in his Administration the government would realize a "net spending cut". This "net spending cut" is completely ridiculous since he is proposing new spending on a national health insurance program, a plan to fix social security and tax cuts for 95% of Americans. Of course, this is all in addition to that 700 billion dollar mortgage bailout bill passed last week by the United States Congress.

The second Presidential debate was a long, boring campaign commercial by both of the Presidential candidates. The problem is that it did nothing to alleviate America's growing concern about its troubled economy, and the question of which candidate is the right man to handle this difficult job.

The truth is that a real debate could provide the answer, but long, boring campaign commercials never do.

Voting Before The Presidential Race Is Over

If you were on trial, would you want the jury verdict before your defense was heard? If you are making a very important personal decision, would you want to decide before considering all the pertinent facts and information?

The answer to these two questions for most of us would be a resounding, "no" . However, nearly one third of the voters in this election will be doing just the opposite. They will be voting early and without proper consideration of all the information and facts.

They will be voting in many cases long before this Presidential election is over. In fact, by October 5, 2008, some form of voting will be occurring in twenty three American states, a full month before election day.

In the Presidential election of 2000, an estimated 12.7 million people, roughly 12 percent of voters, cast their ballots early. In 2004, that number doubled to about 25million, or about 20 percent of 122 million total voters. This year as many as one third of voters or around 40 million people are expected to vote before election day.

Consider that the percentage of early voting in several battleground States in 2008 is expected to exceed fifty percent of the vote. New Mexico, Washington State, Nevada and Oregon will likely see a majority of voters cast their ballots before Election Day.

Of course, it is understandable that members of the military and disabled citizens who have a valid excuse, be allowed to cast an absentee ballot prior to election day. However, the number of states offering no-excuse, in-person early voting is on the rise.

In 1996, just eleven states offered it. In 2004, that number rose to twenty six. This year, with the addition of Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Texas and the all-important state of Ohio, voters in thirty two states no longer need to provide a reason in order to vote early.

So what is the reason for the increase in state sponsored , no excuse, early voting? A recent USA Today article called the 2008 election, "the most extensive early voting process in history" and said it was driven by the desire of bureaucrats to avoid long lines at polling sites on Election Day.

Another reason often cited for early voting is an increase in overall voter turnout. However, there is not a single study that shows that the increase in early voting increases overall voter turnout.

Meanwhile, early voting increases the risk of election fraud and frustrates the imperative for our democracy to be based on an informed electorate.

The Constitution refers the matter of Presidential voting process to the Congress not the individual states. It says: "The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States."

Certainly, a "day" and "time" suggest an election should be conducted on an actual Election Day not the current process of the tabulation of tens of millions of early votes for months.

The United States Congress needs to reform the rules for Presidential voting soon, before early voting elects a president, well before the race is over, prior to election day.

Bailout Bill Disaster Was A Failure Of Leadership

The reason why only 9% of the American public approves the performance of the 110th United States Congress (according to the latest Rasmussen public opinion poll) was on full display yesterday.

After working for days on a financial bailout bill proposed by the Bush Administration and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in an apparent attempt to save the country from the financial abyss, the House voted 228-205 against the compromise bill.

Every Congressional politician from both political party's during the last week had the same talking points. Something had to be done right away about this financial crisis and a failure to act was not an option. Of course, a failure to act was indeed the option chosen yesterday and now the House Of Representatives will not vote again on any bailout plan until at least Thursday.

So what happened to this critical financial bailout plan? The answer can be found in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll. The poll found that just 22 percent of Americans said that they wanted Congress to "pass a plan similar to what the Bush Administration has proposed", while 56 percent wanted Congress to pass something "different" , and 11 percent wanted Congress to take no action at all.

The plan that was subject to a vote yesterday was not very different from the original plan submitted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The plan went down because it did not have voter support in an election year. An alternative bailout plan from the Republican Party was never actually proposed.

In addition, the sad truth is that this entire financial crisis is exposing an even bigger problem for the American voter. It is now apparent that there is no political leadership in Washington, D.C. .

President George Bush, who in his eight years in office has never seen a spending bill that he would actually veto, endorsed the bill but never really sold it to a skeptical American public.

Consider that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a partisan speech to blame this mess on Republicans even as she was trying to get Republican support to pass a bi-partisan bailout bill.

Then after the vote fails, the House Republican leadership indicates members changed their vote due to Pelosi's partisan attacks. Its all about politics but what ever happened to voting on the merits of the legislation?

The fact is that 40% of Democrats voted against this bill and the bill could have passed without any Republican support since Democrats are the majority party in the House. So, the real question here is if this is a good bill, why could the majority party not pass it?

Meanwhile, both of our Presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have gone AWOl. Its hard to understand what bailout bill they actually support. They appear to be awaiting passage of any bailout bill and a test of public opinion before they climb aboard the financial crisis bailout bandwagon.

The truth is that Barack Obama is hiding out on the campaign trail and is voting "present" on this difficult issue as he has often done throughout his political career. John McCain's response has been inconsistent and erratic. In fact, one of McCain's advisers told The Washington Post last week: "you've got to get it [the financial crisis] over with and start having a normal campaign."

The definition of leadership is the ability to affect human behavior to accomplish a mission. It requires the ability to rally and influence people to complete an important goal . It is difficult to achieve a positive result as a leader when you are afraid of the political risk and attempt to lead from behind. Yesterday's bailout bill disaster was a result of a failure of leadership.

McCain Does Not Explain His Suspended Campaign

The first Presidential debate was held in Mississippi on Friday night. The first forty minutes of the debate were devoted to questions on the financial meltdown of the domestic economy and the remainder of the debate was focused on foreign policy.

The near universal opinion in the community of political analysis was that Barack Obama had the slight edge on the questions concerning the domestic economy and that John McCain had the advantage in the debate on foreign policy.

The conclusion of political observers was that there were no major gaffes by either candidate and no real soundbites that would be played by the media for days after the debate.

While Obama gave scripted and polished answers, McCain displayed his extensive experience in foreign policy. Most political pundits thought that the outcome of the debate was a draw.

While all of this the may be true if you were scoring each and every question, it overlooks one important political point. John McCain never explained the reason behind the suspension of his Presidential campaign last week. Why was it necessary? What did he do? What result was achieved? He has never answered these very basic questions.

The truth is that the opening question of the debate was the perfect opportunity for McCain to tell the American public why it was so important for him to suspend his campaign last week and return to Washington D.C. . It is hard to understand why he did not.

The Democrats have been calling his suspended campaign a political stunt for days. Barack Obama had implied that the insertion of Presidential politics was not helpful to the entire bailout package process. Those charges were left completely unanswered by the Republican during last Friday nights debate.

Political mistakes do not have to be major television gaffes. They do not have to take the form of media soundbites. Often, it is the opportunity lost that is the real mistake. For John Mccain, the first Presidential debate was an opportunity lost on the question of his leadership during this financial crisis.

This is a difficult political environment for a Republican candidate. A financial meltdown, a struggling economy, an unpopular sitting President, the war in Iraq, and problems in Afghanistan are not a formula for success if you are the Presidential nominee of the political party in power. It is not an environment that will easily forgive self-inflicted campaign mistakes.

The real story of the first Presidential debate is that John McCain did not explain his suspended campaign. It was a political mistake and it will do nothing to stop his slow but steady erosion in national public opinion polls.

Joe Biden Moments May Get John McCain Elected

We certainly should give Joe Biden credit for candor. At the same time, its difficult to understand exactly why an otherwise intelligent and experienced politician continues to have what can only be called, "Joe Biden moments".

Indeed these "Joe Biden moments" sometimes make you wonder which side he is representing in election 2008. A few weeks ago, the Democratic candidate for Vice President indicated that his running mate Barack Obama could have made a better choice by selecting Hillary Clinton for Vice President. ( See: "Joe Biden's Moment of Truth Will Not Help Obama" on eworldvu.com). While that may well may be true, it called into question Obama's judgement and reminded everyone of the difficult and divisive Obama/Clinton Democratic primary campaign.

Yesterday, in a nationally televised interview with Katie Couric, there was another Joe Biden moment on prominent display. He said in the interview that an Obama campaign ad which mocked Republican John McCain's inability to use a computer was "terrible."

Biden said: "I thought that was terrible by the way," when asked about a campaign ad which made fun of McCain's admitted lack of ease with computers. "I didn't know we did it, and if I'd had anything to do with it, we would have never done it."

What are the political ramifications of this latest Joe Biden moment? Lets just look at what Barack Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Buron said last week about John McCain's campaign: "We will take no lectures from John McCain, who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history. "His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office he is seeking."

The truth is that both campaigns are running negative and sleazy ads almost every day. The ad that Joe Biden is talking about is one in which McCain is mocked as out of touch for not using a computer or the internet. However, the real reason McCain does not use a computer according to various news reports may be due to injuries he sustained as a prisioner of war.

Of course, Democratic political damage control is now well underway. Biden has issued another statement this morning. Biden now says that he "was asked about an ad I'd never seen" and was "reacting merely to press reports." So, we are to believe that he called his own campaign ad terrible even though he had never seen it? This response may in itself be yet another Joe Biden moment.

Criticizing his own campaign ad is another Joe Biden moment in a career full of them. However, this is a very close contest and if these moments continue, they could well begin to add up to the hour of John McCain's election.

Those Joe Biden Moments just keep on coming. From Ben Smith's Blog on Politico.com today:

Biden garbles Depression history

Joe Biden's denunciation of his own campaign's ad to Katie Couric got so much attention last night that another odd note in the interview slipped by. He was speaking about the role of the White House in a financial crisis.

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed," Biden told Couric. "He said, 'Look, here's what happened."

As Reason's Jesse Walker footnotes it: "And if you owned an experimental TV set in 1929, you would have seen him. And you would have said to yourself, 'Who is that guy? What happened to President Hoover?'"

Joe Biden's Moment Of Truth Will Not Help Obama

I woke up this morning to another Joe Biden moment. What is a Joe Biden moment? Historically, a Joe Biden moment is when voters just shake their head in wonder and ask why an otherwise intelligent politician would say such a dubious thing.

The truth is that Joe Biden has a history of these moments and as a result is a politician that has often shot himself in the foot during his long political career.

So far, in election 2008, while Sarah Palin has dramatically energized the Republican campaign, Joe Biden has not been much of an asset to the Democratic ticket . However, yesterday, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden became a political liability to Barack Obama.

At a rally in Nashua, N.H., a man in the audience told Biden how glad he was that Obama picked him over Hillary, "not because she's a woman, but because, look at the things she did in the past."

Here is how Biden responded: "Make no mistake about this, Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America. Let’s get that straight. She’s a truly close personal friend, she is qualified to be President of the United States of America, she’s easily qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America, and quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. But she’s first rate, I mean that sincerely, she’s first rate, so let’s get that straight."

It sure sounds like Joe Biden is questioning Barack Obama's selection of himself as the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee. It highlights once again the lack of a proper explanation of why Hillary Clinton was not selected by Barack Obama for the number two spot on the ticket.

Of course, the McCain camp was quick to respond: McCain Spokesman Ben Porritt: "Barack Obama’s most important decision of this election, and Biden, the candidate he selects, suggests, himself, that he wasn’t the right man for the job, and that Hillary Clinton would have been a better choice. Biden certainly has a credible viewpoint on this."

Look for the Republican attack ads questioning Obama's judgement again in the days ahead. Certainly, Joe Biden's moment of truth will not help Obama but it was not the only Joe Biden moment on display yesterday.

At the start of his speech in Missouri he pointed out several state lawmakers in the audience for praise. When he got to Chuck Graham, a state senator from Green Meadows, Biden urged the lawmaker to “stand up Chuck, let ‘em see ya.”

The problem for Joe Biden is that Chuck is wheelchair bound and can not stand up. Here is Biden's response when he found out: “God love ya, what am I talking about. “You can tell I’m new,” he then asked the audience to stand up for Graham instead.

The problem for Obama is that Biden is not new and too often people don't know what he is talking about. The political reality in this campaign is that Joe Biden is fast becoming an anchor around Obama's neck as big as the anchor of George Bush that hangs from John McCain's.

For More on Election 2008 see: Presidential Election Day 2008 In My Dream on eworldvu.com

Sarah Palin's Political Counterpunch

For the last five days, bloggers from the fringe left aided by the mainstream media have been on a Sarah Palin jihad. The political attacks were mostly about her qualifications and her family but make no mistake, they were driven by her conservative politics.

The political attacks were relentless: Her 17 year old daughter was pregnant, therefore Sarah was not a good mother. Sarah Palin's recent child with Down Syndrome was really her daughters child and there should be a DNA test to determine the real mother was another absurd fictional creation from the fringe left blogosphere.

The National Enquirer, the new 2008 standard for investigative jounalism (see "The John Edwards Fairy Tale Campaign of 2008" on eworldvu.com) wrote without any tangible evidence from unnamed sources that she once had an affair. We discovered that her husband had a DUI arrest nearly twenty two years ago. Still others in the media wrote and opined that she should not have run because she had five kids and would not be able to balance the time.

Last night, Sarah Palin answered these critics with a speech that was different in style from the marvelous speech last week given by Barack Obama but every bit as good. She made the case for the election of John McCain. She made the best case yet by any Republican against voting for Barack Obama. In doing both she answered the skeptics and made the case for her own selection to the second spot on the Republican ticket.

Sarah Palin did it all with poise, a smile on her face, humor and with the smooth delivery of a seasoned veteran. It's hard to believe that she is only 44 years old. No matter what the outcome of Election 2008, America has seen the rising stars of the next political generation. It may be that this election is just the first round of several which will feature Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

America has not had two politicians that are gifted communicators like these two people in either political party for many years. Last night at the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin answered her critics and came out swinging. She certainly proved that she has a potent political counterpunch. It may well be that the difference between a pit bull and this hockey mom is only the lipstick.

A Possible October Surprise In Election 2008.

Five days before the Presidential election in October 1968, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson announced a complete halt to the bombing of North Vietnam. This conveniently timed announcement was intended to assist the failing Presidential campaign of Democrat Hubert Humprey.

Four years later, in October 1972, the Nixon Administration would declare that " Peace was at hand" in the Vietnam War. That announcement helped Nixon to a 20 point margin of victory in that Presidential election over George Mcgovern.

The truth is that it is not unusual for newspapers, political campaigns, think tank studies and even books to release studies or disclosures to be timed just before election day in order to influence the outcome of an election. It certainly is not without precedent for a sitting President.

In the 2008 Presidential election, foreign policy experience is a problem for Democrat Barack Obama. It was the primary reason he selected Joe Biden to be his Vice President. However, foreign policy is a political strength for Republican John McCain.

Now consider that there is a real problem in International foreign policy that will simply not go away. It is the problem and danger of a nuclear Iran. Three sets of United Nations sanctions have not deterred the country from enriching Uranium. In fact, Iran has just announced an increase in its effort to achieve a nuclear capability.

The prospect of any meaningful future United Nations sanctions simply does not exist with Russia holding veto power in the United Nations Security Council. Meanwhile, Israel is holding elections in September 2008 which will determine the future leadership of the country. Israel is already on record as saying that it will not accept a Nuclear Iran. (see: Israel Will Act To Prevent A Nuclear Iran on eworldvu.com).

Also consider that after the November election, President George Bush would have to clear any bombing action against Iran through what could well be a reluctant Democratic president and Democratic Congress. So, October could well be George Bush's last chance to deal with the problem in Iran without leaving it for the next administration.

Of course, any October military action against Iran would also serve to remind America of the importance of a candidate's foreign policy experience. It would also be one last chance to help the potential sagging political fortunes of the campaign of Republican John McCain.

Therefore, various political and International conditions are favorable for an October Surprise in Election 2008. In addition, consider the implications of a recent article from the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, ( see article below).

Will there be an October surprise in Election 2008? Will that surprise include the bombing of Iran? It certainly would not be without precedent in American political history. Watch John McCains public opinion poll numbers closely in the next few weeks. If they begin to fall and if I was in Iran, I would keep a close eye to the sky.

Here is the article on September 1, 2008 in the Telegraph. U.K.

Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of 'impending US attack'

The Dutch intelligence service has pulled an agent out of an "ultra-secret operation" spying on Iran's military industry because spymasters in Netherlands believe a United States air attack was imminent. According to reports in the newspaper De Telegraaf, the country's intelligence service, the AIVD, has stopped an espionage operation aimed at infiltration and sabotage of the weapons industry in Iran.

"The operation, described as extremely successful, was halted recently in connection with plans for an impending US air attack on Iran," said the report. "Targets would also be bombed which were connected with the Dutch espionage action." "Well placed" sources told the paper that a top agent had been recalled recently "because the US was thought to be making a decision within weeks to attack Iran with unmanned aircraft". "Information from the AIVD operation has in recent years been shared with the American CIA secret service." Brig Gen Seyyed Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of the Iranian armed forces, warned at the weekend that military attacks against Iran would trigger a Third World War."The exorbitant demands of the US leaders and the global Zionism which have created the current situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Caucasus are gradually directing the world to the edge of the cliff," he said.

The US has refused to rule out a military attack against Iran if its government continues to enrich uranium as part of its civilian nuclear programme, which the West suspects has the clandestine objective of developing atomic weapons. Iran has warned it would close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf and a major oil shipping route, if it is attacked.

On Friday, the Israel newspaper Ma'ariv reported that Israel has stepped up preparations for a contingency plan to attack Iran, should diplomatic efforts, via the United Nations, fail to derail Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

Election 2008: A Close Race In The Battleground States

One thing becomes very clear when you, look at the different public opinion polls in the Presidential election of 2008. Going into the Republican National Convention, this is one very close race. It looks like Barack Obama got an average Convention "bounce" of 4% from the well run Democratic Convention.

It would only take a small post convention bounce for John McCain this week to return this race to a statistical dead heat. Indeed, the voting public appears evenly divided between the two Presidential contenders. A look at a few of the national polls this morning tells the story. Gallup has Obama up by 6%. Rasmussen has Obama up by 3% and Zogby has McCain up by 2%. The Electoral College is close as well with only 10 Electoral votes separating the two candidates. (Rasmussen).

So, what will decide this 2008 Presidential Election? Lets first discuss what will not. The 2008 Presidential Election will not be decided on whether Sarah Palin eats mooseburgers or how well Joe Biden avoided Vietnam. It will not be decided on the pending pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter or the past plagerism of Joe Biden's speeches. It likely will not be decided by either candidates choice of a Vice President since it is the top of the ticket that wins or loses elections. Historically, the choice of the V.P. only amounts to a 1% popular vote benefit for the Presidential candidate.

With the contest this close, Election 2008 will be decided by the voting in just a dozen American States. The fact is that with 90% of Republicans voting for McCain and a similar number of Democrats voting for Obama, the Independent voter in twelve battleground states will decide the outcome of this election.

For the Independent voter, it will be the answers to the following three questions that will determine the selection:

1. Has Barack Obama been completely vetted by the political media? McCain is very well known to the voting public. It is unlikely that there is anything that is unknown about him at this point concerning his personal background. However, since political newcomer Barack Obama has not yet "sealed the deal" with the voting public despite his gifted oratory, any new dubious revelation about Obama's background would hurt his candidacy.

2. How will each man do in the three scheduled Debates? How will Obama do in handling foreign policy questions? Will McCain look weak when compared to the oratory skill of Obama? How will McCain handle questions concerning the economy, an area he readily admits he is weak on?

3. Who will make that crucial mistake? In a close election, a major gaffe, or speaking mistake could well decide the outcome. So, the candidates better realize; how many houses they have, why they are running for office, and know how many states there are in the United States Of America.

For more on the voting in Election 2008 see: The Twelve States That will Decide Election 2008 on eworldvu.com.

John McCain Picks Sarah Palin For Republican V.P.

The 2008 Presidential Election is certainly shaping up to be great political theatre between now and election day. The Democratic convention ended last night with the speech from Barack Obama recieving high praise from each side of the political spectrum.

It was a speech that political commentor David Gergen referred to as a "political symphony". The speech was flawlessly delivered in front of 84000 people. In addition, the outdoor venue of Invesco Field added to the overall excitement. In fact, television celebrity Oprah Winfrey was so moved by the speech that she is quoted as saying that she "cried her eyelashes off".

The only criticism from the political pundits was the lack of specifics concerning the political promises inherent in the Obama acceptance speech. Obama will need to fill in the policy details to his fine oratory last evening in the days ahead.

To answer the Democratic Presidential candidate's nomination address, John McCain has made the surprise selection of Sarah Palin as his choice for a running mate in Election 2008. The selection of the female Governor of Alaska for Republican V.P. is a strategy designed to take advantage of the disappointment of many female voters with Obama's selection of Joe Biden instead of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic V.P. nominee.

However, the selection of Palin helps McCain in other ways as well. She is a favorite of the Republican Party's conservative base. She is a reformer and the only candidate from either party that has actually run anything. She also is young and has a compelling life story. With Palin, McCain can run as an independent, on a platform of reform and change. However, with McCain's advanced age, the American public needs to be convinced that she can step in at a very young age and become the future President if necessary.

Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin in Election 2008. If this were a baseball game, I think it would be a tie after ten innings and the eventual outcome would depend on who makes the first error. It will certainly be an interesting contest to watch. The first scheduled Presidential debate is September 26, 2008.

Jack Kelly of Real Clear Politics wrote this excellent article on Sarah Palin on June 04, 2008 :

McCain Should Pick Sarah Palin for VP

Who? When?

Republicans including, I imagine, Sen. McCain himself are asking these questions about his selection of a vice presidential candidate.
Ideally, a presidential candidate wants a running mate who will help him or her win the election, and (maybe) to govern afterwards. But most will settle for a veep who isn't a drag on the ticket, as Dan Quayle was for the first President Bush.

Traditionally, a presidential nominee has chosen a running mate to balance the ticket geographically, or to appease a faction of the party. The most successful example of this was when John F. Kennedy picked Lyndon Johnson, though neither liked the other, and LBJ joined the ticket only because he thought Kennedy would lose.

Bill Clinton broke with this tradition when he chose another young (purported) moderate from a neighboring southern state. By picking Al Gore, he hoped to reinforce his campaign theme of generational change.

Which way will Sen. McCain go? The potential running mates most often discussed have downsides nearly as great as their upsides. Gov. Tim Pawlenty helps only in Minnesota, and not enough, according to current polls, to make a difference there. Sen. McCain's friend Sen. Joe Lieberman would bring in some moderate Democrats, but could further antagonize conservatives already suspicious of Sen. McCain. Gov. Romney would have little appeal to working class whites unhappy with Sen. Obama, and evangelicals fret about that Mormon thing.

A Huckabee nomination would irritate economic and foreign policy conservatives as much as it would please evangelicals. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is a rising star. But he's only 36, and he's been governor for less than a year.There is one potential running mate who has virtually no down side.

Those conservatives who've heard of her were delighted to learn that McCain advance man Arthur Culvahouse was in Alaska recently, because they surmised he could only be there to discuss the vice presidential nomination with Gov. Sarah Palin.

At 44, Sarah Louise Heath Palin is both the youngest and the first female governor in Alaska's relatively brief history as a state. She's also the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating that has bounced around 90 percent.

This is due partly to her personal qualities. When she was leading her underdog Wasilla high school basketball team to the state championship in 1982, her teammates called her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her fierce competitiveness.

Two years later, when she won the "Miss Wasilla" beauty pageant, she was also voted "Miss Congeniality" by the other contestants. Sarah Barracuda. Miss Congeniality. Fire and nice. A happily married mother of five who is still drop dead gorgeous. And smart to boot.

But it's mostly because she's been a crackerjack governor, a strong fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially in her own party. Ms. Palin touches other conservative bases, some of which Sen. McCain has been accused of rounding. Track, her eldest son, enlisted in the Army last Sept. 11. She's a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular churchgoer, she's staunchly pro-life.

Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal said Sen. McCain should run against a corrupt, do-nothing Congress, a la Harry Truman. If he should choose to do so, Gov. Palin would make an excellent partner "The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who have crossed Sarah," pollster Dave Dittman told the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes.

Sen. Barack Obama's support has plunged recently among white women. Many Hillary Clinton supporters accuse him -- I think unfairly -- of being sexist. Having Sarah Palin on the ticket could help Sen. McCain appeal to these disgruntled Democrats.

Running mates usually aren't named until the convention. But if Sen. McCain should name Gov. Palin earlier, it would give America more time to get to know this extraordinary woman. And because she's at least a dozen feature stories waiting to be written, she could help him dominate the news between now and the conventions.

Another reason for selecting Sarah Palin early would be to force Barack Obama to make a mistake. He'd have to rule out choosing someone like Virginia Sen. Jim Webb as his running mate, for fear of exacerbating charges of sexism. And if he chose a woman other than Hillary, the impression Democrats are wimpy would be intensified.

Republican National Convention Preview

The Republican National Convention will be held in Saint Paul, Minnesota at Saint Paul's Xcel Energy Center from September 1, 2008 through September 4, 2008.

John McCain has announced that he will select his Vice Presidential running mate at 11am on Friday August 29.

Here is the scheduled Program for the Republican Convention.

Monday September, 1 2008 - Theme: Service.
Speakers will include:
U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif.)
Vice President Richard B. Cheney
First Lady Laura Bush
President George W. Bush

Tuesday September 2, 2008 - Theme: Reform
Speakers will include:
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.)
Former Gov. Tom Ridge (Pa.)
Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska)
Gov. Jon Huntsman (Utah)
Rosario Marin, California Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and former Treasurer of the United States
Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.)
Gov. Linda Lingle (Hawaii)
Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (Md.)

Wednesday September 3, 2008 - Theme - Prosperity
Speakers will Include:
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.)
Meg Whitman, National Co-Chair for McCain 2008 and former President and CEO of eBay
Carly Fiorina, Victory ‘08 Chairman for the Republican National Committee and former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.)
Mrs. Cindy McCain
Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.)
Republican Party’s Vice Presidential Nominee

Thursday September 4, 2008 - Theme - Peace
Speakers will include:
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.)
Gov. Charlie Crist (Fla.)
U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.)
U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.)
John McCain

Hillary Clinton Starts Her 2012 Presidential Campaign

When you lose a close election like Hillary Clinton, you have several things that you must do if you want to make a political comeback.

First, you must command a nationwide audience at a major political convention speech. Then, you must appear to be a good loser because nobody in America likes a poor loser. Next, you must appear to rise above the circumstances of your close defeat.

In addition, you must be faithful to your party. You must endorse the party nominee and be positive and reflective. It would be great if you could add an appropriate touch of humor. The attack on the other political party nominee is an absolute must.

For Hillary Clinton, an adoring daughter and the picture of a devoted, proud and dedicated husband were the icing on the cake. Her speech by all accounts last night achieved all of her goals. She leaves the political stage in 2008 but is well positioned for her Presidential campaign of 2012. However, to have a real shot for the White House in 2012 she still needs Barack Obama to lose this November to John McClain.

For More on Hillary Clinton see: The Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign Of 2012 on eworldvu.com

Barack Obama Picks Joe Biden For V.P.

The race for the White House is about to get really nasty. Barrack Obama's campaign of change has selected the ultimate Washington insider to be his running mate in Election 2008. With the selection of Joe Biden, Obama has chosen to forget about his campaign of change and embrace the politics of political attack. The truth is that Biden will be Obama's Republican attack dog for the next few months. The tone of this campaign is going to get very sour, very quickly.

The choice of Biden opens up several lines of Republican attack. Biden criticized Obama's lack of foreign policy experience in the Demcratic primary when he was a candidate and Biden voted to fund the Iraq war while Obama did not.

The other troubling thing about the selection of Biden was how it was done. Obama promised to announce the selection in advance by a text message. That entire process was compromised when the selection was leaked and a hurried text message was then made to his mailing list at 2am on Saturday morning. The execution was not well done and shows a lack of campaign experience.

The Associated Press has the following analysis of the Joe Biden selection for V.P.:

By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 23, 2:12 AM ET
DENVER:

The candidate of change went with the status quo.

In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness — inexperience in office and on foreign policy — rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.

He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate — the ultimate insider — rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list.

The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden pick is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative — a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image.

Democratic strategists, fretting over polls that showed McCain erasing Obama's lead this summer, welcomed the move. They, too, worried that Obama needed a more conventional — read: tougher — approach to McCain.

"You've got to hand it to the candidate and the campaign. They have a great sense of timing and tone and appropriateness. Six months ago, people said he wasn't tough enough on Hillary Clinton — he was being too passive — but he got it right at the right time," said Democratic strategist Jim Jordan. "He'll get it right again."

Indeed, Obama has begun to aggressively counter McCain's criticism with negative television ads and sharp retorts from the campaign trail.A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a "reverence" inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing — even eager — to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House.

Biden brings a lot to the table. An expert on national security, the Delaware senator voted in 2002 to authorize military intervention in Iraq but has since become a vocal critic of the conflict. He won praise for a plan for peace in Iraq that would divide the country along ethnic lines.

Chief sponsor of a sweeping anti-crime bill that passed in 1994, Biden could help inoculate Obama from GOP criticism that he's soft on crime — a charge his campaign fears will drive a wedge between white voters and the first black candidate with a serious shot at the White House.

So the question is whether Biden's depth counters Obama's inexperience — or highlights it?
After all, Biden is anything but a change agent, having been in office longer than half of all Americans have been alive. Longer than McCain. And he talks too much.

On the same day he announced his second bid for the presidency, Biden found himself explaining why he had described Obama as "clean."And there's the 2007 ABC interview in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.

It seems Obama is worried that some voters are starting to agree.

Election 2008 Presidential Debate Preview

Here is the schedule of Presidential debates in Election 2008. The Commission on Presidential Debates will sponser the events. Since the race by all measures is very close, these debates may well decide the outcome.

The first debate is scheduled for Sept. 26 at the University of Mississippi. The debate will focus on foreign policy and national security, and John McCain and Barack Obama will answer questions from moderator Jim Lehrer while standing at podiums.

On Oct. 7, the two Presidential candidates will meet again for a town-hall style debate at Belmont University. Moderator Tom Brokaw will call on audience members and pose questions submitted through the Internet.

The third presidential debate, on domestic and economic policy, is slated for Oct. 15 at Hofstra University. Both McCain and Obama will sit at a table with moderator Schieffer.

Vice Presidential contenders are to meet Oct. 2 at Washinton University in St. Louis.