It is clear that news sources are not supposed to show a bias to one political party over another, but every news source is drawn to a story. The current story after a McCain rally in VA is that he is “making a comeback.” McCain’s advisors are going with this idea, saying that this underdog from the past few weeks is going to come from behind and surprise everyone. If this were to happen, McCain would have to do a few things. One, he would have to swing the older white male demographic, who have gone more-so towards Obama because of the recent economic crisis. Also, he would have to win a majority of the “undecideds,” as well as the battleground states that Bush won in ’04. One, do you think this campaign method is effective, or will drive more people to the democratic party? Or is this election a lot closer than how the media is portraying and the polls will be neck and neck?
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/10/14/don-t-call-it-a-comeback.aspx
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5 comments:
I think Ryan brings up a good point about the way campaigns frame different stories. If the story were coming from the democratic campaign it could say that Obama is winning all battleground states but one (Virginia). So in the end this campaign tactic might be effective for those who are easily influenced by one news source. Still I think people have seen the dirty tactics of the Republican party so far and are subsequently driven to the democratic party. The polls have shown that Republicans are far behind, and I think too far behind to make up for in this election. With even fox news reporting McCain as behind, I think we have to assume that the current polls are correct and McCain is indeed in great danger of losing this election. Unless he comes up with a very big turnaround or Obama blows it tonight in the debate then McCain has lost.
I have seen some election polls showing that Obama carries a large lead over McCain and while I'd like to believe it's true, I don't believe that the actual results are so far apart. I do believe that Obama is definitely ahead of McCain but not by as far of a margin as everyone seems to be broadcasting.
I'm sure if McCain gears his campaign towards certain demographics, he may be able to win back some votes, however, it's going to take a lot of work for such a short time. At this point, since we're only weeks till election day, I am inclined to say that McCain is in danger to lose the election. However, I am always one to expect the unexpected so I won't make any definite predictions.
I think the campaign method is effective in that possibly the only positive thing they have to work with right now is a sort of comeback story. They are trying to rally the party and get people to turn out in larger numbers to support this "underdog".
I do not think the election is that close because almost every source says that Obama is ahead, although by different margins. I think McCain is realizing that this election is quickly slipping away from him and is doing whatever he can to salvage it, hence the underdog tactic. I do not think it will work though especially since the republicans have been the party in office they are not really underdogs.
They say the speech in Virginia might be a comeback start, but bringing up Bill Ayers again? It always seems to me that the more McCain attacks, the more old and grumpy he looks, and the more inclined I am to vote for Obama. I think Romano makes a great point to say that we should not rely on the media for who is leading or coming back, but rather the pollS. Tom makes a good final point in his post; Obama should win unless he has a major screw up. The democrats have done it before, but Obama seems to be too smooth for stage mistakes.
Everyone has made a lot of good poitns and it seems that Obama's campaign strategy has really pulled him ahead. I think that this strategy of being an underdog that McCain is going with will definitely help, but I don't think it will be enough to win. He did so many character attacks on Obama in the beginning that he turned away a lot of people. Although Obama certainly has attacked McCain's character, he has made his campaign to come across as being focused on the truth and the issues at hand, which I think helped bring him ahead massively and cause McCain's fall.
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