Category: Blogroll

Poll: Obama Leads Among Arab American Voters

Buck Banks

Well of course Barack Hussein Obama leads among Arab American voters. Duh!

In a new Zogby poll conducted for the Arab American Institute, it was revealed that Democratic candidate Obama holds a substantial 21 point lead over Republican John McCain among Arab American voters. The poll also found that Obama’s 54 percent/33 percent lead over McCain dropped to 46 percent/32 percent when independent candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr were included in survey questions.

Other key findings included:

  • The most important issues for Arab American voters are jobs/economy (far and away the greatest area of concern), followed by the war in Iraq/peace/foreign affairs, and health care.
  • Approval ratings given to the Bush Administration’s performance are low: 23 percent for overall performance, 19 percent for economic policy and 31 percent for foreign policy.
  • The shift in party identification continues. The Democrat/Republican break in 2000 was 40/38; now it is 46/20.

McCain, Obama Waging Rumor War Inside The Google

Buck Banks

If you think what you read in the paper, see on the TV or hear on the radio is bad, wait until you see what comes up on the most popular search engine when you type in “Obama Muslim.” On the left under results you get links to Urban Legends and Snopes that debunk the Internet rumor.
google-results.jpg
But on the right, where the sponsored links are, the first link says, “Searching for Experience/Instead of Researching Obama/
Learn More About John McCain.” The next three links are “Christians for Obama,” “Jews for Obama” and “Barak Obama Facts.”

If you search “Obama Biden,” the top sponsored result is owned by MoveOn.org, followed by McCain and then three sticker/button sites.

Score two for McCain who, according to U.S. News & World Report, is winning the bidding war on sponsored links:

Overall, the McCain campaign has been more aggressive in bidding on Google search terms. In August, McCain’s site managed 21.6 million sponsored search-link impressions (the number of times users click on a particular sponsored link), compared with less than 1 million for Obama’s site, according to Nielson Online, another Internet monitoring firm.

The way this works is, the campaigns enter online auctions and bid on search terms. The higher the bid, the higher the placement in the ranking of sponsored links. The real winner here is The Google, but that’s another story. Apparently, the bidding/search war is heating up:

Specifically, Obama’s campaign has waded into online auctions for Google search terms to snap up not only obvious phrases like “Barack Obama” but also potentially negative ones like “Barack Obama birth certificate” or “Barack Obama as a Muslim,” according to Hitwise, an Internet audience monitoring firm.

This means that, as of Wednesday morning, Google searches for Obama being a Muslim (a false but pervasive Web rumor) often turn up a prominent “sponsored” link at the top of the results page that connects to a page on Obama’s campaign website that debunks the myth and details his Christian faith. Searches for Obama’s birth certificate produce a link to a page showing the official document.

How effective has the rumor war been? According to Hitwise, the number of click-throughs from the sponsored links have been low. Is it worth the money and effort for the campaigns? Probably not, but in the age of Web 2.0, The Google provides just another battle front in a campaign that seems to have no bounds.

Poll: Obama-Biden Up 16 Points Over McCain-Palin in California

Jon Ponder

It’s another beautiful day in California:
Democratic women are now 83-9 percent in support of Obama.

The survey shows that the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden leads the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin by a 52 percent to 36 percent margin. The 16 percent point lead remains significant but is down from the 24 point lead the Democratic team enjoyed in July. An aggregate 3 percent of voters prefer other candidates, while 9 percent remain undecided.

Palin has not helped McCain among California independents, who represent one-fifth of the state’s electorate:

[McCain’s] choice of Palin has not helped him get to “stage two … broadening the (GOP) base to include the nonpartisans,” said DiCamillo. “He’s made very little headway in that regard.”

The independent and decline-to-state Californians – a rapidly growing number who represent 1 in 5 state voters and are increasingly younger and ethnic – are “still with Obama,” he said. Those voters are “what elected Arnold Schwarzenegger,” another star candidate who portrayed himself a as a maverick outsider, [said Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo].

But with that critical electorate, “(Palin) is not moving the needle much. … That (independent voter) number would have to get very close or even in McCain’s column for him to be competitive in California,” he said. “And it doesn’t look that way.”

Palin did not help McCain woo California’s Democratic women either:

[…]

Deepak Chopra Unmasks Palin and Deconstructs Her Appeal

Trish

When one thinks of insightful political commentary, the name Deepak Chopra does not leap to mind. But the Indian medical doctor and New Age leader nailed Sarah Palin’s appeal better than anyone I’ve read so far. See if you don’t think his analysis is right on the money.

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that…

Sarah Palin is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride

[Sarah Palin] is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind…In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:

  • Small town values — a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
  • Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.
  • Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be needed.
  • Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
  • Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.
  • ”Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.

[…]

Obama Calls Out McCain Campaign on Palin’s Lies about Opposing ‘Bridge to Nowhere’

Jon Ponder

On Monday, the McCain campaign released an ad that repeats the false claim that Gov. Sarah Palin opposed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska. In fact, she supported it 100 percent, when it was first introduced as a “pork” earmark on a bill by her mentor, Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska’s senior senator who is currently facing bribery charges.
“You can’t just recreate yourself. You can’t just reinvent yourself. The American people aren’t stupid.”
— Obama
At a campaign stop, Barack Obama took aim at the claim:

“Well, now, let’s get the facts clear here,” Obama said. “When she was mayor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to get earmarks — pork barrel spending –- all the things that John McCain says is bad, she lobbied to get! And got a whole lot of it. When it came to the Bridge to Nowhere, she was for it until everybody started raising a fuss about it, and she started running for governor, and then, suddenly, she was against it!

“You remember that?” Obama asked the Flinters. “‘For it before you were against it’? I mean you can’t just make stuff up. You can’t just recreate yourself. You can’t just reinvent yourself. The American people aren’t stupid.”

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Countdown” last night, Barack Obama repeated the attack, as you can see in the video at the top, and the second cut below:

[…]

Poll: Palin Not a Chick Magnet for McCain Campaign

Buck Banks

From Political Wire:

A new survey conducted for EMILY’s List suggests Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is not helping the Republican ticket with female voters. Among all women surveyed, Obama-Biden leads McCain-Palin, 53 percent to 35 percent.

When asked how the running mates were picked, half of those surveyed said Obama chose Biden based on his experience, while 29 percent said he was chosen for political reasons. Meanwhile, 20 percent said McCain chose Palin for experience and 59% said his pick was for political purposes.

Key finding: A 55 percent majority of women voters who backed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary say that Palin’s inclusion on the ticket makes them less likely to vote for McCain; just 9 percent say her presence on the ticket makes them more likely to support McCain.

Obama on Clinton’s Speech: ‘That Was Excellent, She Delivered’

Jon Ponder

While Trish found much to criticize in Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic Convention last night, her candidate seemed to think it was pretty good:
“Clinton Hits a Home Run in a Finely Tuned and Delivered Speech”
— BuzzFlash.com

Obama watched the Hillary video intently, with a slight smile.

“That was great,” he said afterward.

Although they were thousands of miles away, the crowd in the Thompsons’ living room [in Montana, where Obama watched the speech] clapped along when Chelsea introduced her mother.

“It was a nice moment,” Obama said.

“I am here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat, as a proud senator from New York, a proud American and a proud supporter of Barack Obama,” she said.

“It is time to take back the country we love and whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose,” Clinton said, bringing applause from the group.

“No way. No how. No McCain,” she said.

“Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president.”

…Obama smiled.

“That was excellent,” he said. “She delivered.”

Even our friends at BuzzFlash.com, who are big fans of their hometown guy, and who were among Clinton’s harshest critics in the liberal web-o-sphere during the primaries, were complimentary. “Clinton Hits a Home Run in a Finely Tuned and Delivered Speech,” read their headline today.

The Other One

Trish

It’s Biden:

Sen. Barack Obama has selected Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, according to his official Web site and a text message the campaign sent to supporters on Saturday.

“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee,” the text message, sent at around 3 a.m. ET, said.

“Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago,” Obama said in an e-mail sent to supporters Saturday morning.

“I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone,” he wrote. ” We need your help to keep building this movement for change.”

Vice presidential candidates are often called on to be the aggressors in the campaign. A comment Biden made earlier this year may have resonated with Obama:

“I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history — maybe ever. The idea that they are competent to continue to conduct our foreign policy, to make us more secure and make Israel secure, is preposterous. … Every single thing they’ve touched has been a near-disaster.”

Updated by JP at 5:27 a.m.