Election 08 trivia bites – Campaign about Campaigning

The danger of living in the pressure cooker environment of a political campaigning is allowing the campaign itself to become the issue. Senator McCain has obviously fallen into that trap now, even to the degree of stylizing issues discussion as making issues political. Ummmm, sorry John, issues are political, campaigns are supposed to deal with issues. But enough from me, let’s hear some political snippets from the campaign about campaigning.

Previous: Coulter and Huffington

The candidates, presumably

The Patriot Game

The Middle East

It's the economy, stupid

In this campaign, it seems, McCain just can't catch a break.

a bit of bad luck does not make a trend - McCain senior aide Mark Salter

• "…these things go in cycles. Even in the course of this campaign there have been months where I am a genius and months where I am an idiot," Obama
• [McCain is] part of a Washington establishment that "has failed the American people on energy and that failure has led directly to our current crisis." Obama
• …a "hypocritical political attack," McCain
• "With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to ‘the people of the world,' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too." McCain
• “It is hard for me to understand Senator McCain’s argument. He was telling me I was supposed to take this trip. He suggested it and thought it was a good idea.” Obama standing in front of No. 10 Downing Street.
• Obama has complained that McCain is offering little of substance to voters and does little more than attack.
• "All those negative ads he's running won't do a thing to lower your gas prices or lift up the debate in this country" Obama
• "we're proud of that commercial." McCain

Britney Obama

The "celebrity" television ad showed spliced images of Ms. Spears and Ms. Hilton with video of Mr. Obama addressing 200,000 Germans in Berlin last week.

• "It celebrates the excitement that he has generated, that is certainly more akin to the excitement that a celebrity generates than a normal politician," McCain senior adviser
• "I admire his (Obama's) campaign, but what we are talking about here is substance and not style.”
• “And what we're talking about is who has an agenda for the future of America. Campaigns are tough, but I am proud of the campaign that we have run" McCain
• "You'd think we'd be having a serious debate but so far all we've been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.”
• “I do have to ask my opponent: Is that the best you can come up with?" Obama
• "So far all we've been hearing about is Paris Hilton"
• "I do have to ask my opponent: Is that the best you can do? Is that what this election is really all about? Is that worthy of the American people." Obama.
• If a certain heir to a hotel-based fortune is rethinking his support of John McCain, it will be understandable
• Hilton was so enthusiastic about his candidate of choice that federal records show he donated twice as much as the law allows (the campaign returned the excess)
• "I didn’t think McCain could look silly. But that ad diminishes him and makes him look silly.” Hollywood producer Norman Lear

Surprise! McCain is a white man

The McCain campaign is trying to shake up a race that currently favours Obama at a time when the U.S. economy is weak, the U.S. military is stretched fighting two wars, and the annual budget deficit is approaching a half trillion dollars.

• McCain Camp Says Obama Is ‘Playing the Race Card’
• The best way to play the race card sometimes is to accuse the other side of playing it.
• "Since they don’t have any new ideas, the only strategy they’ve got in this election is to try to scare you about me"
• "They’re going to try to say that I’m a risky guy. They’re going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he’s got a funny name and he doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills." Obama’s racist comment
• Some observers interpreted this as Obama "accus[ing] McCain of running a racist, xenophobic campaign."
• "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis
• "disappointed that Senator Obama would say the things he’s saying.” McCain
• I asked myself. Did he call McCain "Whitey McWhiteguy"? Andrew Romano Newsweek
• “I’m very disappointed and race will not have any role in my campaign”
• “It’s very clear what his comments imply–anyone who looks at those and previous comments that he has made. I think it’s very clear that he has. I’m very disappointed and I repeat it wont be part of our campaign” McCain introducing race to the campaign
• “a desperate attempt to salvage a desperate campaign” Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison
• “It’s ridiculous, it’s offensive and you have to wonder if there is a double motive for it”
• “The McCain campaign can’t get any traction…So what do you do? You attack the other guy.” Democratic Rep. Artur Davis
• “Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using races as an issue, but he does believe they’re using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign.” Gibbs

The Post-Hummer Economy

• Barack Obama today called for reform of the nation's energy economy
• accusing President Bush of "letting the oil companies write his oil policy"
  "It's too important for us to be doing business as usual" Obama
• "When George Bush came into office he put Dick Cheney in charge of energy policy. . . . We cannot afford four more years."
• “It's time we had an energy policy that works for you”
• McCain Camp Sees Energy As Winning Issue
• If you're looking for someone to blame for high gas prices, John McCain's campaign is happy to help.
• A new television ad, "Pump," that directly blames Barack Obama for rising gas prices.
• "Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?," she asks - after which a photo of Obama appears onscreen.
• "No to independence from foreign oil," the announcer continues. "Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?"
• chants of "Obama, Obama" can be heard in the background
• "Don't hope for more energy, vote for it. McCain."
• Candidates in a panic run panic ads
• McCain blaming Obama for gas prices represents "the same old politics."
• "This is the first time the Republicans have felt upbeat and optimistic about a major issue in a long time"
• The American people appear to be moving in McCain's direction on the issue
• six-in-ten voters favor McCain's offshore drilling proposal
• Obama's energy plan "would force the oil companies to drill in the areas they’ve already leased…”
• provide every American family with an immediate energy rebate and a middle-class tax cut worth $1,000,
• invest $150 billion in renewable sources of energy that will create 5 million jobs and replace the oil we import from the Middle East by 2025

Campaign advertising

Three months before Election Day, John McCain's stepped up aggression begs the question: Will voters vote for the scold?

• "The campaign is making him seem angrier than he is and therefore it's a disservice to him" John Weaver, McCain's former senior strategist
• Angry candidates don't win elections. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton won by running as sunny optimists
• McCain wants the presidential campaign to be about Barack Obama — that's why he talks about him so much
• there is no centralized message
• This careening from message to message makes them look like they don't have one specific thing they want to say about this guy
• "It's a leap, electing a 46-year-old black guy named Barack Obama"
• more than 90 percent of the ads aired by Obama did not mention McCain
• [Ads are] blaming Obama for high gas prices
• Obama and McCain are airing more TV advertisements in more media markets than their counterparts did during the 2004 election campaign
• More Than $50 Million Spent On Campaign Ads In Two Months
• McCain has run a higher percentage of negative ads
• about a third of his ads have been negative, compared to about 1 in 10 for Obama
• Every RNC spot has been negative
• Obama is airing ads in 37 markets where McCain has not aired a single ad
• McCain is advertising in only two markets where Obama is not
• An Obama viral video from rapper will.i.am that was viewed more than 8 million times on YouTube
• McCain’s most famous viral music video is a clip of him jokingly singing “Bomb Iran