There’ll be much relief and fanfare in wingnuttia this week. Polls showing Obama with a slight edge in critical swing states two weeks ago now show the race tied. It’s a reasonable inference this represents conservatives coming home for Ryan. That was the whole point in picking the granny starver. From here on out it’s We the People vs a mountain of conservative zillionaire cash, a pack of voter supression laws, and bald-faced breathtaking whoppers designed to trick the uninformed into voting against themselves and their families:
TPM— “The Romney-Ryan ticket has a significant disadvantage on Medicare,” the pollsters wrote. “Asked which of the two tickets is more likely to protect Medicare, Purple State voters choose Obama-Biden by an 8-point margin (48% to 40%). On that issue, the Democratic ticket holds a 2-point advantage among independents, 43% to 41%.”
“While the inclusion of Paul Ryan has provided positive movement for the ticket overall, a debate about Medicare reform appears likely to harm the GOP ticket in the longer term,” the pollsters wrote.
Hank Fox, aka Blue Collar Atheist, had what I thought was a great idea back in 2004: talk two into joining you. This is especially critical in swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. Find a progressive voter or two, adopt them, make sure they have the proper ID, put in a time off request for election day and make a date out of it. Vote together and celebrate democracy afterward with a nice lunch or something fun.
If that person needs a few bucks to afford a cab or bus ride to get their birth certificate to get an accetable ID, I promise you this, I’ll help you find that money. And it’s my guess there might be a few folks in this neck of the virtual woods who feel the same way.
Swing voters consist of less than one million people across 6 states according to Paul Begala. I am not sure how the medicare debate affects them directly, but since they tend to be younger, I think the Obama campaign should keep up the pressure emphasizing the obvious hypocrisy about exempting 55 and older voters from their voucher system…if it’s so great, why do only the young get to partake? However, I still think the best attack is against tax cuts for the wealthy and nothing (or worse) for everyone else.
I think the power of money is going to surprise most Obama supporters even though they think we are winning on the messaging. Here in Maryland, we have been getting the overflow ads from VA and Obama is definitely being outspent already. These ads will affect swing voters since they will be constantly in the background all the time.
I am not impressed. There is a lot of publicity focused on R&R right now, so that ups the poll numbers. When Donald Trump announced that he was running he went to the top of the polls to. So did Rick Perry. What happened to them? I think the enthusiasm will cool, especially when people find out how extreme Ryan is.
The “talk two into joining you” sounds good, but it would need to be done carefully, especially when you’re providing financial support to them so they can obtain the required ID. If you’re only willing to provide that support if they’ve indicated they’re voting for Obama, and you won’t provide the support to someone who indicates they’re voting for Romney, that is wrong (and I would assume it is illegal, or at least I hope it is).
Absolutely, we should be doing whatever we can to encourage everyone to vote, and then trust that higher turnout will produce better results. Living in a Republican county, there are some within my party who don’t think we should spend time doing random voter registration drives, but I disagree with them. The moral thing to do is treat all potential voters the same, regardless of how you think they may vote.
You’re exactly right. Those are the three tools the conservatives have on their side, since their policies (which should be a tool you have to convince people to vote for you) hinder their chances.
If the polling referred to comes from Purple Strategies…proceed with w caution. This is Alex Castellanos’ outfit. Look at them the same way you look at Rasmussen. Still, valid points and good idea…with voter disenfranchisement and super PAC money this will be close
I don’t think it’s illegal for private citizens to seek out and register like-minded voters. If it is I can’t imagine how that would ever be enforced.
It’s not illegal to seek out and register like-minded voters, but I do think it is illegal to discriminate while holding a registration drive. You can’t turn someone away because you think (or know) they are a Republican.
And the more important thing is that I am fairly certain it is illegal to “buy” votes, so when you are offering financial support to help people vote, there may be a line that is crossed in that process.