The general: Turning blue states red?
Posted: Monday, June 09, 2008 9:13 AM by Domenico Montanaro
“Obama and John McCain don't agree on much, but they came together yesterday to reject an invitation from Mayor Bloomberg and ABC News to host a town-hall meeting in Manhattan,” the New York Post writes. “‘The offer didn't match up with our thinking,’ said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. Both presidential campaigns indicated that Bloomberg's pitch, which would give exclusive rights to ABC to broadcast the free-form debate, fell short in terms of reaching the number of voters they would want to target. Burton said they want a forum that would be open to any network and could be viewed in real time on the Internet.”
Don't miss this blue
target list of states as listed by McCain manager Rick Davis: “Other potential Democratic-held targets for McCain's campaign include Washington, Oregon, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Delaware, Maine and Connecticut. While McCain often talks about competing in California, Davis said the campaign was ‘probably not going to commit a lot in resources’ to the state.”
He rules out California, but potentially rules in DE, NJ, ME, and CT. Interesting: Expect DE and NJ to stay, sort of, in the McCain battleground: Why? Both states share the Philly media market, and Pennsylvania is going to be a McCain target for the duration. As for CT, we'll see; it's an expensive state to target because of the New York City media market bleed, but if McCain's folks believe NJ is in play, then they'll move into the nation's largest media market and that will also help lift him in Connecticut. Maine shares some media markets with New Hampshire, so as long as NH stays in play, it's easy for McCain to continue flirting with ME. Plus, ME awards its electoral votes via congressional district, so maybe McCain could over-perform in the state's more rural 2nd District and steal one electoral vote from the Obama column. It's a similar strategy Obama's employing in Nebraska and the Omaha media market.
Issue watch: Here's Time magazine: "There was always something slightly insane about No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the ambitious education law often described as the Bush administration's signature domestic achievement. For one thing, in the view of many educators, the law's 2014 goal -- which calls for all public school students in grades 4 through 8 to be achieving on grade level in reading and math -- is something no educational system anywhere on earth has ever accomplished. Even more unrealistic: every kid (except for 3% with serious handicaps or other issues) is supposed to be achieving on grade level every year, climbing in lockstep up an ever more challenging ladder. This flies in the face of all sorts of research showing that children start off in different places academically and grow at different rates. Add to the mix the fact that much of the promised funding failed to materialize and many early critics insisted that No Child Left Behind was nothing more than a cynical plan to destroy American faith in public education and open the way to vouchers and school choice."
"Now a former official in Bush's Education department is giving at least some support to that notion. Susan Neuman, a professor of education at the University Michigan who served as Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education during George W. Bush's first term, was and still is a fervent believer in the goals of NCLB. And she says the President and then Secretary of Education Rod Paige were too. But there were others in the department, according to Neuman, who saw NCLB as a Trojan horse for the choice agenda -- a way to expose the failure of public education and 'blow it up a bit,' she says. 'There were a number of people pushing hard for market forces and privatization.'"
FLORIDA: Good news for gamblers on the battleground campaign trail. You can now play blackjack at a Hollywood, Fla., casino.
With Dem fears about Obama winning the popular vote but losing the Electoral College, look for this bill by Bill Nelson to end the Electoral College to become popular on the left.
NORTH CAROLINA: The Raleigh News & Observer: Barack Obama stops in Raleigh today, planning to use a populist economic message and a hefty campaign war chest to capture North Carolina's independents, newcomers and Hillary Rodham Clinton voters. With Clinton out of the race, Obama will be starting his first extended trip as the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee. Supporters said his morning appearance at the N.C. State Fairgrounds will kick off a well-funded test of state Republicans' goal: an eighth straight victory in North Carolina presidential elections.”
