G4Hillary
09-06-2008, 06:41 PM
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/09/06/us/07mccain_600.jpg
Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin held a rally on Saturday at an airplane hanger in Colorado Springs, Colo
Fresh from the Republican convention, Senator John McCain’s campaign sees evidence that his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is energizing conservatives in the battleground of Ohio while improving its chances in Pennsylvania and several Western states that Senator Barack Obama has been counting on.
Aides to Mr. Obama said the campaign was preparing advertisements tailored to issues important in specific states, like ones about the auto industry in Michigan and nuclear waste in Nevada, even as the Democrats pull back ads in Georgia, a reliably Republican state he had sought to put in play by investing heavily in registering new Democratic voters.
Strategists say that Mr. McCain can now count on a more motivated social conservative base to help him in areas like southern Ohio, where the 2004 race was settled.
While fortified turnout from this base is probably not enough to assure victory for Mr. McCain, strategists said, it would be very difficult for him to win without it. In that sense, Ms. Palin’s presence on the ticket — depending on how her candidacy fares under the scrutiny it is receiving — could be vital.
Some campaign officials hope that Ms. Palin, an Alaskan, can broaden the ticket’s appeal in the Northwest, possibly gaining traction in states like Oregon and Washington, as well as shore up Mr. McCain’s standing with social conservatives who had, up to now, been lukewarm at best about his candidacy.
“Thursday morning our phones started ringing about how do we get involved, where are the phone banks, where is the literature to distribute,” said Mike Gonidakis, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, explaining that many people had been motivated by Ms. Palin’s convention speech on Wednesday night. “It’s amazing to see the attitude and enthusiasm — especially compared with what it was about 10 days ago.”
In one indication of how Mr. McCain defines the battleground and the message he will emphasize to counter the Democratic strategy, the Republican National Committee recently bought television time in 14 states — including five that Mr. Kerry won last time around — for an advertisement calling Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats “ready to tax, ready to spend, but not ready to lead.”
That advertisement will be shown in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia — all Republican states in 2004 that Mr. Obama is contesting aggressively this time — and Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Democratic states four years ago that Mr. McCain is trying to win over.
One indication of the Obama campaign’s priorities can be found in a breakdown of how it is distributing large donations to a special fund-raising account it has set up for state parties. The breakdown, provided by an Obama fund-raiser, shows the campaign funneling money to traditional battlegrounds like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but also allocating substantial sums to normally solid Republican states like North Carolina.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/us/politics/07strategy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em
Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin held a rally on Saturday at an airplane hanger in Colorado Springs, Colo
Fresh from the Republican convention, Senator John McCain’s campaign sees evidence that his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is energizing conservatives in the battleground of Ohio while improving its chances in Pennsylvania and several Western states that Senator Barack Obama has been counting on.
Aides to Mr. Obama said the campaign was preparing advertisements tailored to issues important in specific states, like ones about the auto industry in Michigan and nuclear waste in Nevada, even as the Democrats pull back ads in Georgia, a reliably Republican state he had sought to put in play by investing heavily in registering new Democratic voters.
Strategists say that Mr. McCain can now count on a more motivated social conservative base to help him in areas like southern Ohio, where the 2004 race was settled.
While fortified turnout from this base is probably not enough to assure victory for Mr. McCain, strategists said, it would be very difficult for him to win without it. In that sense, Ms. Palin’s presence on the ticket — depending on how her candidacy fares under the scrutiny it is receiving — could be vital.
Some campaign officials hope that Ms. Palin, an Alaskan, can broaden the ticket’s appeal in the Northwest, possibly gaining traction in states like Oregon and Washington, as well as shore up Mr. McCain’s standing with social conservatives who had, up to now, been lukewarm at best about his candidacy.
“Thursday morning our phones started ringing about how do we get involved, where are the phone banks, where is the literature to distribute,” said Mike Gonidakis, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, explaining that many people had been motivated by Ms. Palin’s convention speech on Wednesday night. “It’s amazing to see the attitude and enthusiasm — especially compared with what it was about 10 days ago.”
In one indication of how Mr. McCain defines the battleground and the message he will emphasize to counter the Democratic strategy, the Republican National Committee recently bought television time in 14 states — including five that Mr. Kerry won last time around — for an advertisement calling Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats “ready to tax, ready to spend, but not ready to lead.”
That advertisement will be shown in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia — all Republican states in 2004 that Mr. Obama is contesting aggressively this time — and Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Democratic states four years ago that Mr. McCain is trying to win over.
One indication of the Obama campaign’s priorities can be found in a breakdown of how it is distributing large donations to a special fund-raising account it has set up for state parties. The breakdown, provided by an Obama fund-raiser, shows the campaign funneling money to traditional battlegrounds like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but also allocating substantial sums to normally solid Republican states like North Carolina.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/us/politics/07strategy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em