This is good news:
In a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of swing states, an overwhelming majority of voters remember seeing campaign ads over the past month; most voters in other states say they haven’t. In the battlegrounds, one in 12 say the commercials have changed their minds about President Obama or Republican Mitt Romney — a difference on the margins, but one that could prove crucial in a close race.
At this point, Obama is the clear winner in the ad wars. Among swing-state voters who say the ads have changed their minds about a candidate, rather than just confirmed what they already thought, 76% now support the president, vs. 16% favoring Romney.
“We gave them new information,” says Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. “Romney had been out there claiming success as governor,” but Democratic ads have prompted voters to “take a look at his record” on job creation and as head of the private-equity firm Bain Capital. Messina also credits a $25 million buy for a positive ad “about the challenges the president inherited and what we had to do to move this country forward.”
To be sure, Obama’s ads have done more to win back Democrats than to win over independents or Republicans: Thirteen percent of Democrats say their minds have been changed by ads, compared with 9% of independents and 3% of Republicans.
Keep beating Romney over the head with Bain, offshoring, overseas bank accounts, until Mark Halperin breaks down and cries or calls the President a dick again.
Spatula
I’m really not a fan of that lazy Village writing cliche, “to be sure…”
Other than that, good news.
David Koch
This is Great News for McCain!
Jewish Steel
Are we sure it isn’t Romney ads driving support in Obama’s direction?
SIA
I am glad to hear some good news. Think I’ll come in on off the ledge.
quannlace
“Outsourcer-in-chief.”
This should be a mantra
Raven
Oh but it’s, like, totally divisive!
Hunter Gathers
Obama’s beating the holy living shit out of Romney over the overseas bank accounts. And the other side keeps bringing a knife to that particular gun fight.
amk
And yet teann’s candy crowley has a running chyron of wapo’s despicable kessler’s 4 pinnochios for obama’s bain ads while grilling messina.
MattF
New slogan: ‘Both sides do it, one side is telling the truth.’
Nellcote
Living in a liberal enclave of N. Cali, we haven’t gotten a deluge of ads from either candidate. I’ve never seen a pro Rmoney ad on teevee and just a few positive ones from BarackObama.com that I assume are national buys. Not complaining for sure but the rest of the country really is a different world.
David Koch
The just released ad goes right after him on China
amk
Right there is the reason dems end up as losers often.
salvage
I’m wondering if the RNC’s heart is really in this fight, they have a candidate that they’re clearly not enthused about, an incumbent that barring any disasters is popular enough to win and no specific issue to rally around. If the economy was worse and if the majority didn’t blame Bush of it, maybe.
My dream at the convention Palin somehow manages to snatch it away in a flurry of Teabagging insanity and we get the craziest fucking election ever.
Mark S.
Being in a blood red state, I don’t see any of these ads. I also hardly watch any TV.
Baud
@David Koch:
“He made a fortune letting it happen.”
Too awesome.
salvage
@Hunter Gathers:
What else are they going to say? India (or wherever) is the 51st State?
…
Yeah, they could do that.
amk
@MattF: Good one. Stolen.
David Koch
Black Jimmy Carter
Spatula
@amk:
Right there…meaning…what?
Citizen_X
“InconCEIVable! We have UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH!”
amk
This is mittbot.
https://twitter.com/OccupyEye/status/222078600147513345/photo/1
gogol's wife
I’m in a (I hope very) safe state, but I walked by a television at the gym the other day and saw an Obama ad hammering Romney over outsourcing. I thought it was a good sign, because I don’t remember seeing national presidential campaign ads around here last time (I don’t watch network TV at all at home, so I’d have to catch it by chance at the gym).
Villago Delenda Est
Again, I point out that Halperin’s head would look much better on a pike than it would his shoulders.
dmsilev
Huh. So the OCEANS OF UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH! which Rove and company are already spending by the tens of millions haven’t swung the electorate over towards the Romneytronic 3000?
VICTORY!
amk
@Spatula: If you need to be ‘won back’ by your own party, then you’re a fucking loser.
beltane
And this is just the Bain stuff. The business of Romney’s ties to disgraced (and maybe one day convicted) Barclay’s Bank executives has not even been touched yet. Willard’s career is truly like an abundant natural resource just waiting to be exploited.
amk
A very good DNC ad on mittbot’s ‘banks’.
Keith G
Many are the times when I want my president to be a dick (toward those opposing him). Clinton was often at his best when he was dickish.
Spaghetti Lee
Let this be a lesson to everyone. Ordinary people don’t believe in the Randian supply-side bullshit. The folks in charge want us to think they do, but they don’t. People can be conservative or liberal in different ways, but everyone but a small group of rich sociopaths hates job-killing corporate princes like Mitt Romney.
Frankensteinbeck
@salvage:
The RNC has damned little to say about things. The downside of Citizens United for them is that the money ends up in a hundred little PACs that dance to a different tune.
Yutsano
OT: Ernest Borgnine died.
freelancer
@Yutsano:
RIP Marty.
ChrisNYC
I wonder how much pressure Romney is getting to not disclose the information on the offshore accounts and investments, from the others like him. When do Americans pay more attention than during a pres campaign? What if people actually begin to be convinced, via Romney, that super duper richies are effectively citizens of no country, as far as money goes? Maybe that’s why he’s always gotten this lukewarm reception from the GOP. Maybe they saw he’s dangerous to run as a candidate because it pulls the curtain back.
Keith
Expect plenty of “Gosh, Mitt, you’re running for president!” in the months to come.
James E. Powell
@amk:
How many people do you suppose will see this, or anything similar? How can this information become more widely known?
quannlace
New Jersey is a mixed salad. Usually, we don’t see a lot of ads untill close to Election day. But I’ve seen some Obama ads. Any Romney ads? Nope. Same thing with bumper stickers . Obama-2012., Yup. No Romney’s .
James E. Powell
@Spaghetti Lee:
Ordinary people don’t believe in the Randian supply-side bullshit.
Agree, but terms like “government spending” are code for “giving our money to the [insert racist epithet here]”
And our beloved Heartland Americans passionately believe in that.
Patricia Kayden
“76% now support the president, vs. 16% favoring Romney.”
Just great!! Keep hitting them, President Obama. With voter suppression and disaffected Dems (who just are never going to be pleased no matter what), we need every vote we can get.
the Conster
It’s only July, and the O team’s narrative is already starting to take hold. Once Labor Day is here and gone, let’s just say that the drip drip drip of info showing how weird and un-American Rmoney is compared to the secret Muslim Kenyan usurper, the Mittster will seem like the Manchurian Mormon candidate beamed down from Planet Kolob with the offshore unexplainable bank accounts that he really is, all with the added benefit of being true, secret underwear and all. I heart Jim Messina.
amk
@James E. Powell: I spread them around on teh twitter. It normally self-perpetuates via retweets.
Baud
I think this works because Romney has done zero to introduce himself to the voters. Everything he is is based on not-Obama. Not that an unlikeable guy like Romney has any other choice.
Mike in NC
They’ve been running a very simple but effective ad about “RomneyEconomics” in my area: noting that while Willard was governor, Massachusetts was #1 in state debt, while at the same time #47 in job creation.
Odie Hugh Manatee
OT:
John, I may have tripped across one of the reasons you keep questioning your life at 42.
Blame social media.
General Stuck
I’ve said it before. Nominating Mitt Romney by the nutters is like putting Al Capone in charge of the Temperance League. For this particular election. Everyone knows about outsourcing and corporate raiding at this point in our history, so it is a simple message to define the weasel as the epitome of what is wrong in this country.
But he will still get at least 45 percent of the vote. Though likely not in swing states in the midwest and upper midwest. And unpopular whack job tea tard governors in states like Florida are doing the job for free, toward giving Obama another term. You couldn’t draw up a better scenario for democrats this go around. Long as nothing monumental happens in the negative for our side.
the Conster
@the Conster:
Also, that he’ll be the first Mexican-American president with ancestors who self-deported to escape prosecution for polygamy and who, as a bishop of a secretive cult, will take his oath of office on the Book of Mormon and will have to tithe a significant percentage of his government income to a cult that revers the Angel Moroni over Jesus. Will he want that on top of the White House? Good luck explaining all that to your teatard base, Mittens.
amk
From the dogfight days, a great ron paul ad on mittbot.
Just watch the last minute or so. Hilarious.
jl
Remember the Sankaty!
Sankaty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankaty
I noticed that pundits are saying Sankaty is either a little peninsula or a lighthouse, which it is. But they got no Wikipedia entry.
The handsome little steamer that ferried items around offshore islands on an international route does have an entry.
So, remember the Sankaty!
Ash Can
The husband and I were watching Star Wars reruns on Spike last night and saw an ad (several times over) hitting Romney on offshoring jobs. M-80 wondered if it was a local ad and if it meant the Obama campaign thought IL was in play. I said I didn’t think that was at all possible, and that it was a national ad being run on that particular channel (among others, I’m sure), targeting a lower-information working-class audience (given Spike’s usual programming). I also remarked to him that I was surprised we hadn’t seen any pro-Romney ads as well. Maybe Romney’s campaign figures it has the Spike audience sewn up.
Heliopause
I’ve never been so happy to live in an uncontested blue state.
The Dangerman
@salvage:
Any shenanigans at the convention will have Ron Paul’s fingerprints all over it.
It’s early, but I don’t get their strategy (Boehner: “yeah, he’s unlovable”).
jl
@Heliopause: Yes. Thank goodness here too. CA might go > 65 percent for Obama. Hope that is enough lead to keep the ads down.
geg6
Of course it’s working. Obama has been pounding away at Mittens on the airwaves here for months. Constantly. No Mittens ads anywhere, just Kkkarl Rove’s outfit and not many of those. WTF are these people doing with all that UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH?
It’s working so well that when Obama stopped in our county seat, Beaver, for some pastries and cookies at a legendary local bakery on his way to Pittsburgh the other day, the squeeing among the population could be heard in Pittsburgh and still hasn’t stopped. And this is a town that is considered the Republican stronghold of the county, a town that has never in its existence has elected a Dem for municipal office. People haven’t quit talking about it yet. And remember, this is the town that was the first stop he and Biden made after the convention in ’08. Where a bunch of local GOPers showed up at the event carrying their handguns, visibly and with intention. And also the town where I got to meet the Obamas and Bidens backstage. :-)
Yutsano
@geg6:
Well…well…he’s my boss! So neener!
amk
@geg6:
shortstop
@geg6: And he ate those baked goods, didn’t he, referring to the pastries by name and complimenting their makers? At no time did he appear confused by or contemptuous of said desserts, right?
Weaselone
@geg6:
That’s a good question. What exactly is being done with all this cash? Their is no indication that they have been building a ground game, so if it is not being dumped into adds, where is it going? I would like to believe it is all being transferred from gullible billionaires to the pockets of political hacks, but I seriously doubt it. Have they purchased all the advertising slots for September and October? Paid off Canada to invade the New England states on election day?
Mr Stagger Lee
But…But….But isn’t Rachel Maddow pearl clutching over the fact that President Obama is concerned over the funding advantage the Mitt RobbedMe/RMoney has over him?
geg6
@Yutsano:
One proudest moments of my life. My mom never stopped talking about shaking hands with JFK when he came through the area in 1960. I got to actually be introduced, shake their hands, and be thanked for all my work during the primaries and in registering voters. Jill Biden asked me about my work. Michelle told me that I have a tough job. It was awesome and, yes, I squeed for months.
salvage
@The Dangerman:
Oh yeah, they have two nutters running around and everyone will be armed… oh man there may not be enough popcorn in Bollywood…
I really don’t think they have one other than survive and start planning 2016. They have a lousy candidate, a fractured party and no single issue to bring them together other than DON’T YOU KNOW THE PRESIDENT IS A NI?
Xecky Gilchrist
@amk: Right there is the reason dems end up as losers often.
Damn right. I hope those fickle ponyprogs keep their minds changed onto Obama.
Mike G
RMONEY: Believe in America
Send Jobs to China
Stash Your Loot in the Cayman Islands
Heliopause
@jl:
Here in Washington state we’ve had remarkably few political ads so far. We’re going to have a close governor’s race and I haven’t seen a single ad yet. Cantwell’s senate seat is up and I haven’t seen a single ad yet (by this point in 2010 Patty Murray and Dino Rossi already had me wanting to kill myself). A couple of the House seats ought to be competitive yet have only seen a couple of Suzan DelBene ads thus far. Lovely, like the weather here.
Raven
@geg6: That it great!
JPL
Who was that famous American who said that you don’t introduce a new product until after August? That worked out great for us. ha!
If the Koch’s and others are smart, they will put their money towards buying the house and senate.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Weaselone: I would like to believe it is all being transferred from gullible billionaires to the pockets of political hacks, but I seriously doubt it.
Why? Citizens United, whatever else it is, is one of the best vehicles for separating fools from their money that has ever existed. I imagine in a few years after some dust has settled and some investigating gets done, we’ll find 35% administrative fees, embezzling, idiot nephews hired to make “demon sheep” ads, the whole nine yards.
Not that it isn’t still a serious threat to democracy, but these are Republicans we’re talking about.
ETA: remember the fail parade they perpetrated by putting Heritage Foundation interns in charge of Iraq and hiring KBR crony firms to do the construction? It’s like the domestic political version of that.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
Buying Republican State legsliatures all over the country, who then pass laws to fuck with the vote.
I do believe that they intend to steal it outright this year. And openly.
JPL
@geg6: Awesome.
Raven
Anybody seen this video of a guy interviewing himself?
The 32-year-old uncovered a VHS from nearly 20 years ago, in which his pre-teen self asks his future self some very pointed questions. And as it turns out, the future is now, and it’s finally time to get some answers.
The nearly four-minute video features hilarious banter between McDonald and his playful, curious self from the early ’90s. The two touch on various topics including, pets, hobbies and relationships and exchange laughs and insults that only they can understand.
amk
@Mike G: Stolen. Again.
It’s all for a good cause
JPL
@Raven: Have a wonderful vacation.
geg6
@shortstop:
Yes, he ate them. And just to fuck with Mittens even more, he also contacted the bakery in Mt. Lebanon whose cookies Mittens said must have been from 7/11 and ordered cookies for the WH press pool, explicitly mentioning Mittens’ gaffe when they presented them to the press bus. That was Axelrod, sliding the knife between the ribs. LOL!
huckster
@amk: But who the fuck is watching?
Yutsano
@Heliopause: Cantwell has an invisible opponent. At least Clint Didier was mildly entertaining until Bellevue spoke up and threw Dino to the wolves.
22over7
@geg6:
That’s an excellent point. Where, exactly, IS all that unlimited corporate cash? I haven’t seen an ad for our loathsome republican candidate in two months.
Could I hope that the endgame of Citizens United be that the grifters and hangers-on will take all that cash and leave little behind? Why spend actual money on commercials, web pages, or volunteer organizations, when you can spend it on consultants, media experts, and professional political operatives?
Raven
@Raven: That IS great!
Alison
@Nellcote: I, too, reside in Northern CA (north Bay Area) and have repeatedly thanked my lucky stars that we get far far less of the TV campaign ad onslaught, especially after having to see those fucking Philip Morris anti-29 ads. I’m perfectly happy not living in a swing state.
Baud
@22over7:
A pretty good theory. Never underestimate Republican graft. See Iraq War.
amk
@22over7:
Well, all that money is not going to spend by itself.
Ben Cisco
@amk:
Glad to see the meme taking hold. Not that I can claim it outright, but I am a huge fan. #TeaNN
Brian R.
@geg6:
It’s working so well that when Obama stopped in our county seat, Beaver, for some pastries and cookies at a legendary local bakery on his way to Pittsburgh the other day
I have it from reliable sources that those cookies look like they came from a 7-11. I mean, the poors eat them!
Davis X. Machina
@Weaselone:
If they have an ounce of sense, it’s going into legislative elections, and gubernatorial elections, but above all local legislative elections.
That’s where the action is.
Disorganized crime mugs you and steals your wallet.
Organized crime suborns your accountant, bankrupts your business and torches the building for the insurance.
Really organized crime has the legislature repeal the statutes against fraud and larceny.
State legislatures are also cheaper to buy, and out of the spotlight, especially with the decline of local professional media.
Anya
@Mr Stagger Lee: If those emails I am getting from the campaign are any indication, I think the “pearl clutching” is justified.
amk
@Mr Stagger Lee: She has one too many ‘talk-me-down’ episodes.
suzanne
@geg6:
HAHAHAAAHAAAAAAAAAA. Awesome.
Never been so glad to have a DVR. Commercials?! What is this? The Dark Ages?
Banelm
WTF are these people doing with all that UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH?
It would appear that the natural Greed imperative of the typical conservative is kicking in. The Unlimited cash seems to be disappearing into bottomless personal coffers more often than into campaign efforts.
Anya
@Raven: That was hilarious. Good edit. I wonder what he does now? Also, too, I love Dr. Who.
Litlebritdifrnt
Everyone was screaming about Obama spending more than he was making in the past couple of months but they fail to say that he was spending all that money, not on ads, but on the ground game, just as his team did in 2008. Obama had the best ground game I have ever seen in 2008. He had an ARMY of volunteers, we would have mountains of people in our office (Obama HQ for our area) phone banking from the minute the office closed at 5pm until the next morning. The Obama operative would sleep on the couch in the office, brush his hair and teeth in the morning, and get right back out on the road the next morning. They were registering voters, getting out the word, planning on getting people to the polls, hanging doorknob signs, organizing van pools to get people to the polls. This campaign is just as impressive now as it was in 2008. Keep calm and carry on everyone.
Raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: Steady in the ranks! Elizabeth part 2 is tonight.
Narcissus
Surprised Cole has power.
geg6
@suzanne:
Well, it’s not the first nor will it be the last time someone got the giggles over that. Not only do we have a town named Beaver, but we are located in Beaver County, have another town called Beaver Falls (shoutout to Joe Namath, yo), another called Big Beaver, a creek called the Little Beaver, and our river that feeds into the Ohio is the Beaver River. We have a bridge shaped like a beaver and even have lots of actual beavers (the animals!) who live along the Beaver River. Oh, and I work at the Beaver campus of Penn State University, affectionately called The Beav
Anya
@salvage:I don’t think the Romney camp will give Sarah Palin a speaking slot at the convention, but that would be great. It would be really awesome, if Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump all shared with us their particular brand of nuttiness.
Raven
@geg6: You could be at the University of South Carolina!
pseudonymous in nc
I have to admit that I’m getting a bit sick of seeing the short anti-Rmoney / outsourcing ad from Team Obama on Hulu, but I am watching all three seasons of Community over the summer. There have been a few KKKarl Rove ads in the rotation, but not many.
No idea what’s going on with the network ad buys, and it’ll be interesting to see how much of the UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH is being saved up to carpet-bomb NBC’s Olympics coverage, in between snippets of the Rmoney Dancing Horse Parade.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Raven:
“My people, my loving people” That Armada speech was kick ass, and true, from a historical prospective, all of the writings of the time have confirmed its authenticity. The one thing that impressed me about the Elizabeth movies is how much they relied upon writings of the time to construct the dialogue.
salvage
@Anya: I don’t think they will either but Goin’ Rogue is her thing. I imagine her rushing the stage a la Kanye.
MikeBoyScout
If the election where held today I wouldn’t have gotten sunburn.
I didn’t get sunburned! We WIN!!
amk
Obama Drops the Hammer and Vows to Kill the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich .
Raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: Um, the other one:
“In the year of her 80th birthday, Queen Elizabeth II granted filmmakers an exclusive look inside the modern British monarchy. Join Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the royal family as they travel abroad, work at the palace, and meet people from all walks of life. Take a glimpse behind the velvet curtain and see what life is really like as a member of the family firm. “
MikeBoyScout
RIP Ernest Borgnine.
Call 4 thread.
James E. Powell
@Raven:
What channel?
Violet
@22over7:
It’s going into state and local races in places that are perhaps nowhere near you. Our Galtian overlords would love to have a significant majority in the House and Senate, even if they’ve got a bummer candidate for president who can’t win. Plus, if they buy state legislatures they can stack the deck in their favor all around the country and are prepared for 2016 when it’s a wide open field for President.
Z
I really hope they use Romney’s $100M IRA to try to woo upper-middle class voters.
Who knows exactly how he amassed it, but it certainly involved the sorts of financial tricks that are only available to the very, very rich. Everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses and everyone wants to think they have a fair shot at doing so.
Obama should be able to win this election without doing this, but this is key to getting rich, white, suburban men to vote for him: convince them that Romney’s not good for folks who invest for retirement; his policies favor those with extreme wealth who buy companies, have armies of lawyers and accountants on call to figure out the best offshore banking scheme to avoid taxes, and write off their horses as a business expense.
Raven
@James E. Powell: PBS
http://www.pbs.org/programs/queen-country/
Shawn in ShowMe
@Davis X. Machina:
If 90% of people didn’t just vote a straight ticket in an election year, I’d believe this could actually be a winning strategy. But this year the choice seems pretty clear: you’re either with the nig*** or against us. I don’t see how you can separate national Republican party from the local affiliates at this point.
Maude
@Raven:
Have a wonderful vacation.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Raven:
Okay, got ya, sorry for the confusion. :)
gogol's wife
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I love the slogan “Keep calm and carry on.” I think it’s perfect for this election year!
Maude
Obama understands timing. It takes 3 months for a new idea or major issue to sink in for the whole country.
It’s too late for Romney to counter the outsourcing ads.
Read a AP headline that the Obama campaign has released 8 more ads.
It’s so important for people to pay attention to what has happened to this country since Reagan.
steve
http://cheezburger.com/6360632576
Karen in So Cal
@salvage: NOOOOO! Then we’ll never see the end of her and her trailer-trash family.
Anya
Share this video with your non political relative (don’t want to say low information): Ben Labolt: Mitt Romney’s Offshore Bank Accounts and Tax Returns
James E. Powell
It’s so important for people to pay attention to what has happened to this country since Reagan.
I wish they would, but sometimes I think they can’t. For one, they have been so drowned in Reagan hagiography that they are as invested in it as they are to every other bullshit narrative that defines, for them, what America is and who Americans are.
For another, I wish they could just recall the Bush/Cheney Junta, and how everything they did, the wars, the tax cuts, the failure to regulate Wall Street, resulted in disaster.
I also wish for my hair to grow back.
PeakVT
@Shawn in ShowMe: Never underestimate the ability of a swing voter to stay confused.
lamh35
@Raven: wow they have footage from 1897 of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee!
Baud
Just saw a pro-Obamacare ad on USA. I think it’s the first one I’ve seen. I didn’t catch who sponsored it.
Anya
@Maude: This is exactly what Stephan Harper did to the Liberal Party leader (both of them actually). He defined Stephane Dion as a clueless academic and Michael Ignatieff as someone who came back to Canada for his own ambitions after he lived in the US for decades. He defined them in the eyes of the voters before either one of them had a chance to campaign.
scav
@James E. Powell: They’ve certainly made a few improvements to the old sacred Reagan Teflon (R) over the years. Romneybot can’t even stick to his own principles.
freelancer
@Raven:
Don’t Blink. Blink and you’re dead.
ftw.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Maude:
He keeps getting away from it to post here! Go vacay Raven, we’ll be here when you get back. :)
Raven
@Odie Hugh Manatee: How are you dammit???????
lamh35
Dare I say it, the Dems are actually “organized” with this attack. Let’s hope they keep them up.
Democrats Pound Romney Over Offshore Holdings
Raven
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I can’t leave until the plane does at O dark hundred!
David Koch
@geg6: Here’s a nice photo stream of Obama chasing Beavers.
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12188/1244937-491.stm
gvg
Did Citizens United actually leave in place any law that the money “Donated” to these not coordinated by the actual candidates “supporters” actually have to spend that money at all? What if some of them just keep the cash? Like the fraudulent scholarship schemes that used to be around? I’m sure they won’t all do it but how regulated is what’s left? is there are implied contract that is enforcable you send money to something that says it supports the GOP or a certain candidate-does anything actually Have to happen then and what are the enforcement mechanisms? Do they have to spend a certain %? Report anything to anybody including the actual donors? Prove their books aren’t lies? Are their time frames they have to spend in?
I’ve heard about add buys here and there in the news. Is there anyway for anyone including the donors to monitor how the money is spent? Given Kay posted a story about republicans now opposing disclosure of donors because they :might” become subject of harassing boycotts…what if the execs of some super pac understates what they took in so that it’s not obvious to donors that say only 1% went to adds or anything that will actually influence anyone…what happens if the election is over and a pac closes down? Can they keep the extra cash?
I wonder if there is a lot of fraud going on? Maybe the rich donors are being ripped off. since I haven’t heard much about how anything can be checked I have to assume there is.
JoyfulA
@Litlebritdifrnt: And the Obama 08 campaign plied us with cookies whenever we came in for a fresh assignment (from the piles of assignments the campaign was also passing out to the crowds of supporters in this red county).
Maude
@Raven:
There should be wifi on the plane.
Dee Loralei
@Anya: Man that’s gonna hurt the Mittsters glass jaw. I tweeted it and facebooked it. Mitt hasn’t run against a real candidate since he lost to Kennedy in 94. He’s gonna be curled into a fetal position, sucking his thumb in his wet nappies crying for momma by the time Team Obama is through with him! I love it!
IowaOldLady
I’m so jealous of people not in swing states. We have 6 lousy electoral votes and are already drowning in ads from both sides. Thank god for Tivo.
PeakVT
@gvg: There’s probably some people getting rich off the superPACs, but most of the people running them are well-off already. And for people like Rove, generating Republican propaganda is the reason they get up in the morning. They actually want to put the money to good use.
amk
@David Koch: The crowd shot at Carnegie Mellon Univ is fantastic.
Raven
@Maude: Nope, wifi on most airlines comes from ground towers. Southwest is piloting a system that works from satellites. I ripped 8 episodes of Doc Martin for the trip.
SiubhanDuinne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Even though Raven was talking about Her Current Majesty, I’m curious to know your take on the comparative wonderfulnesses of the Glenda Jackson vs. Cate Blanchett Elizabeth I portrayals. I love them both, honestly.
Xecky Gilchrist
@gvg: I wonder if there is a lot of fraud going on? Maybe the rich donors are being ripped off
I bet they are.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
What time are you having to get up? You must be so excited! Hope it’s a fantastic trip. We want regular updates, and pictures!!
Anya
@Dee Loralei: Someone should ask Ann Romney about this video. I am sure she’s gonna say something dumb. Speaking of Mrs. Romney, if you can’t impress Melinda Henneberger, then you should stop talking.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: 4:45 proly. 8:50 flight so we should have plenty of time with a 5am launch from the classic city.
MD Rackham
@amk: Alternately, if a party can’t hang onto its own members, well, it might need to re-think some things.
amk
@Anya: Tweeted.
Mike in NC
@lamh35:
And what about releasing the goddamn tax returns, Willard? Why are you so special?
Anya
@amk: You’ve been on a roll. I got that video from 10 of my facebook friends. I think it’s getting around.
Anya
@Raven: Where you going?
amk
@MD Rackham: yeah, yeah, yeah – I didn’t leave the party and the party left me and all that crap. Got it.
SoINeedAName48
Let’s not get all sexist here.
We should remember that Halperin, wanting to be gender neutral I guess, also called Pres. Obama “a pussy”
http://gawker.com/5817138/mark-halperin-has-now-called-obama-both-types-of-genitalia
amk
@Anya: Thanks to you. :)
'Niques
@Peak… most of the people running them are well off already.VT:
Doesn’t mean they aren’t thieves.
Raven
@Anya: Maui, niece’s wedding.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven: Sleep well and travel uneventfully!
Jeff(the other one)
@Baud: So true. When he does get around to his $8 bazillion campaign later this fall, he will find minds already made up.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks!
Anya
@Raven: That’s so nice. I am jealous. Have a wonderful time. And congrats to your niece.
'Niques
@Anya: facebooked.
Raven
@Anya: Thanks, trip of a lifetime for us.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Raven:
As they say, maintaining altitude and waiting on the appointment with the surgeon Wednesday. Any decision to go in after the nodule in my right lung will be up to him. Unfortunately the lump is the least of my worries right now as I found out that I have another issue that is more pressing and the bleeding may be a result of that. I’ll talk about it later but right now it’s just too much to discuss as I’m still taking it all in.
The wife and kids are driving me nuts with their worry and that bothers me more than anything else. I keep trying to reassure them with what I can learn about dealing with it but there’s always the flip side of that and that’s what they keep focusing on.
It’s going to take some serious adjustments in our lives but as I say, that’s life. This shit happens to people and now it’s our turn.
Thank you for asking, I almost feel like I’m raining on your vacation. Go enjoy it dude, we can talk about this later! :)
Raven
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Hang tough man, you’re not raining on anything. You mean a lot to people here.
John O
It’s still a total wrist-slasher for me that this election even may be close.
I can’t help that a part of me wants Romney to win, because I think it would be better for us all in the long run.
Not enough time for me, though, regardless.
Yutsano
@Mike in NC: This is still drip-drip-drip time. Plenty of opportunity to nail Willard with all his Richie Rich foibles later. The tax returns are better debate fodder.
Peter
@Anya: Jesus, I think that left a scorch mark on my iPhone.
SiubhanDuinne
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
What Raven said. Wishing you the best of all possible outcomes.
Anya
@Peter: Don’t you love Ben Labolt’s mocking tone?
Anya
@Raven: Pictures, please.
Lojasmo
@salvage:
Paultards got all the republican constitutional offices in the MN republican party, and paul actually ended up winning MN.
Shenagins will be epic.
jaleh
What the Republicans want is to win the Senate and keep the House, THAT is what they are doing with their money. Hopefully with Obama on the ticket, people will vote Dem.
ruemara
@geg6: jay. louse. totally jealous.
amk
Great DNC ad on mittbot & koch brothers and on why are they betting on him.
Good to see the dems falling in line for once.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Raven: @SiubhanDuinne:
Thank you, it’s nice to hear things like that. :)
rikyrah
so glad the Obama campaign paid all those ‘ Bain isn’t working’ folks no mind.
ksmiami
@Yutsano: I think the 100 mil in Mitt’s IRA is incredibly damning though… I mean WHO does this? Such a dishonest fraud, so wholly unqualified or fit for the Presidency.
Yes the system is rigged, but come ON
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@General Stuck:
You mean like having 750,000 Pennsylvania voters disenfranchised?
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Raven: Very cool video. Thanks for sharing it.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yep, an army of volunteers, and stunningly well organized. In 2008, I got to the OFA office a little late one day, they’d sent everyone out with door hangers already. I ended up hitting scattered houses and farms in southern PA. I don’t think those people had ever seen a campaign at their door before.
Xecky Gilchrist
@John O: I can’t help that a part of me wants Romney to win, because I think it would be better for us all in the long run.
You can help it, and you should. It didn’t work with Reagan, Bush, or Bush II, and it won’t work with Romney.
...now I try to be amused
Another data point: Yesterday I saw an Obama for America ad on a DC station saying Mitt would ban abortion in all cases. Aimed at Northern Virginia, I expect.
Julia Grey
Probably already earmarked or laid out for September/October ads, when the real airwave blanketing gets underway.
As to the Romney strategy in the face of all of his vulnerabilities, Rinse Preebiss laid it out on Fox News Sunday this weekend. This is it:
In other words, their message is going to be: “It’s your choice, America: Romney or the Apocalypse?”
Julia Grey
Wait…didn’t I hear somewhere that he’s only worth $250 million total?
Does that include this IRA?
Oh, he hasn’t included it in financial reports? Hmm.