Quinnipiac Poll Presidential Shows Race Tightening

• Author: Kyle Kutuchief
• Filed under: Ohio 2008
• Date: Jul 31,2008

Quinnipiac University released their new polling data this morning. Here are the results:

Florida: Obama has 46 percent to McCain's 44 percent, compared to a 47 - 43 percent Obama lead June 18;
Ohio: Obama has 46 percent to McCain's 44 percent, compared to a 48 - 42 percent Obama lead least time;
Pennsylvania: Obama leads McCain 49 - 42 percent, compared to 52 - 40 percent.

This isn't good news, but it isn't all bad. As the polling memo says, it is tough to tell whether the tightening is a result of Obama's overseas trip or the natural letdown after the post primary bump. Regardless, it is not the kind of trend I was hoping to see out of this respected poll. Still, Obama is close in these key states and ahead in Pennsylvania. The results of this poll will get McCain some positive press and refocus this race on domestic issues.

McCain has launched a new ad yesterday taking a shot at Obama's overseas trip. Here it is:

I think this ad is awful, but it made a lot of news over the past 24 hours and was thus successful. As happened in 2000 and 2004, the Republican candidate is the first to start to go negative. The problem is that Democrats in the past have been reluctant to hit back and have tried to take the high road. The Obama campaign needs to start to define John McCain and stop this race from being a referendum on Barack Obama. The Obama campaign has issued a response ad:

Related: Lanny Davis has an article in todays Wall Street Journal making the case for why Senator Clinton should be Obama's running mate.

Citizens of America: Inflate Your Tires

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Energy, Obama
• Date: Jul 30,2008

Citizen of the world, Barack Obama, today in Missouri:

Here is the text of the video: There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy. Making sure your tires are properly inflated — simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling — if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You’d actually save just as much!

Get back on the teleprompter!! The crowd didn't seem too enthused by Obama's answer. Nice energy plan. Powerline does the math: So, on the above assumptions, it would take only 11,308 years of proper tire inflation to equal "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling."

So if we all inflate our tires, the problem is solved according to Obama. Maybe President-elect Obama can set up a plan to have police checkpoints to monitor everyone's tire pressure. I am going to head to a gas station as soon as this post is done and do my part. Then I won't have to worry about gas prices or oil anymore. But really, that is fine. I am not against inflated tires. But I am against that being your idea to avoid having to drill. No word if this just applies to Americans or also to people overseas.

No wonder Senate Democrats don't want any energy votes to come to the floor. Obama would have to vote on things like more drilling. I really think that is what the games in the upper chamber are all about at this point. Protection of Obama.

The House Democrats did their part today to avoid voting on drilling. By a vote of 213-212 they voted to adjourn Friday for their summer recess. Every single Republican who cast a vote voted to stay. They were joined by 17 Democrats. Not included in that 17: Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Marcy Kaptur, Betty Sutton, Dennis Kucinich, Tim Ryan, Zack Space, and Charlie Wilson. That is every Democrat in the House that represents Ohio. This must be part of that grand plan I heard so much about in 2006 that Nancy Pelosi and her crew said they had to bring down gas prices if we elected them (that have now basically doubled).

Also, I watched the first 2 minutes of this speech on TV today, just enough to see Claire McCaskill of Missouri introduce His Highness. I still can't believe McCaskill beat Jim Talent in 2006 for that Senate seat. She is terrible.

Oliver Stone To Release "W." In October

• Author: Kyle Kutuchief
• Filed under: President Bush
• Date: Jul 30,2008

As a Democrat, I'm skeptical of whether election year political movies help or hurt our cause. In 2004, Fahrenheit 911 was supposed to energize the electorate not to vote for President Bush, but in the end it seemed to rally the conservative base around their hatred of Michael Moore and Bush-bashing in general. Oliver Stone is set to release "W." on October 17, 2008. Supposedly the trailer leaked out and there isn't an official website yet for the movie.

Back to the reality of the Bush presidency. I listened to President Bush's speech in Cleveland yesterday. It was largely uneventful and left me asking why he hadn't done anything about energy over the past 8 years. One line in particular from Bush's speech jumped out at me: "But I think it makes sense for government to trust you with your money. See, I'd rather have you spending your money than the government spending your money." This is just a remarkable argument the President has been able to get away with for the past 8 years. He cuts taxes, doesn't pay the bills, and just continues to raise our national deficit. He cuts taxes and expands government.

This morning, President Bush signed the Housing Bill to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bill signing was done in private with no media. The NY Times reports, "the bill raises the national debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion. The bill also creates significant liabilities and risks for taxpayers, that are virtually impossible to calculate."

Fiscal conservatives have to be so disappointed by the past 8 years. It is going to be the challenge of the next President to clean up this mess and try to balance our budget.

Summer Fever of Corruption

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Congress, Local, National Landscape 2008, Scandalous
• Date: Jul 30,2008

"Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell." I don't think there will be any objections to working that classic reference into a post here. Anyhow….

I'm not sure that anyone was shocked (or even remotely surprised) by Monday's joint FBI and IRS raid in Cleveland. How could you be? Everyone has known for a long, long time how the game is played in Cuyahoga County. The top two targets are County Auditor Frank Russo and County Commissioner and Chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Jimmy Dimora. The FBI served search warrants at the Cuyahoga County administration building, the data center, the county engineer's office and the homes of the two gents named above. The federal investigation revolves around on allegations that Dimora and Russo, among other things, traded jobs and county contracts for improvements to their own homes and properties.

Jill at Writes Likes She Talks has PDF's of the search warrant and items taken during the raids.

Cleveland Scene (who recently merged with the Free Times) ran an absolutely great piece on Jimmy Dimora back in January of 2007. This excerpt from the piece summed it up pretty well: But this is how things work in Jimmy's county, where a check with enough zeroes can take care of anything. He's an old-time political boss in the truest sense of the word. Yet while the urban bosses of old made sure to care for the people before fattening up themselves, Jimmy forgot the part about the people.

Typically when the FBI swarms on your office and house, that is not a good sign. They just don't do it to do it.

And on all top of this, the morning the story comes out, the house of Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman goes up in flames early that same morning. Ruled arson. Not even going to speculate on that.

"Probably just a Republican attempt to (fill in the blank)," is the line we might hear from a few Democrats. Sometimes that works. It won't this time. Not when basically every elected official in the county is a Democrat. But it won't matter politically. A new batch of Democrats will rise to power in the county and the same story will be written on a blog by someone in approximately 20 years.

On a side note, I was in Cleveland for the first time since October yesterday. It is about as bad I remembered it.

However, Republicans have their own problems to worry about in Alaska………..
Read the rest of this entry »

"GITMO Act of 2008"

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Congress, Supreme Court
• Date: Jul 30,2008

Short entry, but deserving of it's own post. Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) has introduced House Bill 6615. Description of H.R. 6615: To provide for the transport of the enemy combatants detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Washington, DC, where the United States Supreme Court will be able to more effectively micromanage the detainees by holding them on the Supreme Court grounds, and for other purposes.

A little farther down in the bill:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Giving Inmate Terrorists More Opportunities (GITMO) Act of 2008".

Obviously not going to pass or even come to a vote, but worth mentioning.

Wikipedia: "We Have Your Back, John."

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Scandalous
• Date: Jul 29,2008

As the MSM blackout of the John Edwards story continues, Mr. Edwards found another friend today in Wikipedia. They have locked the page of the former North Carolina Senator so no one can edit it. Some of you might need to click on that first link above to read about the alleged situation regarding Edwards. I talked to two Democrats tonight who follow politics fairly closely and was met with silence when this was brought up. They had no idea what I was talking about. If no one reports it, then it really isn't all that surprising.

My guess is that most "reputable" newspapers and television outlets won't print the Edwards story because it was reported by the National Enquirer. I ask, why are they protecting John Edwards of all people? How long would this story or one similar from the Enquirer about a Republican would be kept quiet? MSM outlets had no reservations about jumping all over the reporting about Rush Limbaugh in the Enquirer as I recall. FoxNews.com talked to a security guard who works at the hotel who confirmed the story, but that is about it in this case.

Truthfully, I don't care what Edwards does in his personal (or public) life. If the story turns out to be true, you won't read a post on it from me. In my eyes he is a non-factor, non-office holder these days and was never going to be Obama's VP nominee. It is just curious to me that this story is not getting any attention given that he is still out doing public appearances. There were about 3 or 4 places this weekend alone I saw stories about the alleged Matthew Broderick cheating on Sarah Jessica Parker story, first reported in Star Magazine (as reported by LA Times bloggers who are forbidden from writing about Edwards). It was even on AOL News - the page where you sign in. It was everywhere. How is that any different? I'm not trying to turn this into Page Six here, just trying to figure out why the silence? That is the most important question at this point and the only one worthy of getting to the bottom of here. Note: This first came up back in December 2007 and was ignored once by the MSM, but the Enquirer stayed on the story.

As it turns out, Wikipedia is actually now drawing more attention to the story through their actions. Maybe Wikipedia will start to lock all of their pages to protect everyone from rumors and speculation? No, they won't.

Mickey Kaus: Will this be the first presidential-contender level scandal to occur completely in the undernews, without ever being reported in the cautious, respectable MSM? Looking like it.

Poll Update: Shocking poll from USAToday/Gallup, showing McCain +4. Ahhh, would be nice, but probably an outlier. The RCP Average of Obama +3.2 (currently) looks about right to me.