May 6: The even-steven race
Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2008 9:17 AM by Mark Murray
INDIANA: The Politico’s Martin writes that Indiana is an even-steven race between Clinton and Obama. “With a demographic landscape that’s well-suited to both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Indiana is shaping up to be the most consequential battleground of the remaining states… Obama and Clinton have traded the lead in Indiana polls, but there have been few reliable local surveys to date. One thing seems certain: Unlike Pennsylvania, where Clinton began with a pronounced advantage, Indiana is a state where both begin on an equal footing.”
The Wall Street Journal runs a similar piece. If it wasn't for the fact that Obama came from a neighboring state, Clinton would likely be favored to win by double-digits. But unlike Ohio and Pennsylvania, Obama starts on a more level playing field thanks to the Chicago media market bleed into Northwest Indiana.
Does Indiana shy away from change candidates? The New York Times suggests so. "With all the talk among the Democratic presidential hopefuls about change, they may wish to consider this as they wander Indiana: People here practically revolted a few years ago when their governor, Mitch Daniels, pushed to change to daylight saving time like most of the country. Change, it seems, may not carry quite the same political magic in this state as it has elsewhere.”
Remember, Indiana is a TOTALLY open primary so Republicans can vote... The Indy Star looks at the crossovers and wonders how many are coming over to support a candidate. "Some Republicans, however, may be doing it to manipulate the election, supporting the Democrat they believe will be easiest for Sen. John McCain to beat in November. Whether the mutiny is minor or truly significant won't be known until the general election, but it was hard not to run into a Republican at the Obama event in Columbus.
NORTH CAROLINA: The Los Angeles Times covers McCain's denouncement of the NC GOP ad that attacks the Dem gubernatorial candidates in that state using footage of Rev. Wright. “‘I don't know why they do it, and obviously I don't control them. But I'm making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there's no place for that kind of campaigning -- and the American people don't want it, period,’ McCain said.”
“McCain said he had not seen the North Carolina ad, which states that Obama is too extreme and shows footage of the Illinois senator's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., shouting: ‘Not God bless America, God damn America.’ In a March speech on race, Obama condemned Wright's controversial remarks, but said the pastor was part of his life and that he could not disown him. ‘I hope that I don't see [it],’ McCain said of the ad. ‘I had enough of a description of it to know that that's the kind of campaigning that I have told the American people we're not going to do.’”
“Aides to McCain said campaign manager Rick Davis called the North Carolina Republican chairman Tuesday and left a long message urging the state party not to run the ad. The campaign also recruited North Carolina Sen. Richard M. Burr, a McCain supporter, to make the same request -- but the effort was apparently unsuccessful.”
So how much airtime will this NC GOP ad receive? "UNC-Charlotte political scientist Ted Arrington said it's telling that the ad begins with a fundraising appeal. ‘The only reasonable effect of this kind of an ad now ... is to raise money, and of course to let the party faithful know that you're alive and kicking,’ he said. Arrington doubted that the ad would sway voters, given the degrees of separation between Wright and the Democratic gubernatorial candidates. But he said it could raise money for N.C. Republicans, who are perennially strapped for cash.”
