Bev, Obama and Bar-be-que Dinners
Beverly Perdue may have overcome her addiction to ‘positive campaigning.’ This morning on the radio when asked if she’d continue her pledge not to run negative ads this fall she said she needed a little time to consider her strategy.
If ‘negative ads’ were bad in April what changed in May?
Back when Perdue renounced negative ads I thought she was kaput. But then Richard Moore walked into – and helped create – the perfect storm. As soon as she renounced the dark side he ran an ad – on race – that was false and got mauled by none other than the grand-guru of North Carolina politics, Jim Hunt himself, for ‘crossing the line.’
In the Presidential race Barack Obama continues to roll. The Democrats’ love affair with Obama is in full bloom. A lot’s been made of his ‘youth vote’ but before Democrats get enraptured about Obama roaring into office on the shoulders of the twenty-something generation remember: We’ve seen this before. Every few years a candidate comes along who mobilizes legions of enthusiastic young people and armies of volunteers. Those candidates often win primaries. But usually lose general elections. Ten-thousand people at Dorton Arena is impressive. But if Obama spoke to 10,000 people every night for a month it’s about 5% of the voters. (And all he’ll have done is talked to 300,000 people who were voting for him anyway.)
More important to Obama during the primaries, he’s forged a solid coalition of African-Americans and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. He set out to move to Hillary left and, in the process, has actually made her look like a centrist. He’s emerged as the liberal candidate and that flies like a rocket ship in primaries but doesn’t have such a good record in general elections. That’s one reason Republicans – who a month ago were cheering for Hillary – are now keeping their fingers crossed for Obama.
The magic of Obama’s rhetoric is also showing signs of wearing thin. His victory speech Tuesday night at Dorton Arena sounded vintage and drew waves of cheers. But think about it: He came out four-square for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Obama’s melody is great but there is something troubling about a candidate whose formula for victory is to say fighting for change means he’s all for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A thousand other politicians – including John McCain – can make the same promise.
Finally, a big loser Tuesday night was bar-be-que dinners. Senator Fred Smith now holds the modern record after holding bar-be-ques in every nook and cranny of North Carolina for a year, then getting upended by Pat McCrory’s 13-week campaign. Senator Smith spent $2.5 million of his own money and made a credible showing but, perhaps, he’d have been wiser to stick to a tried and true formula: Hire a pollster, a TV producer, take his $2.5 million and buy TV time and win the election.
Bev, Obama and Bar-be-que Dinners
Beverly Perdue may have overcome her addiction to ‘positive campaigning.’ This morning on the radio when asked if she’d continue her pledge not to run negative ads this fall she said she needed a little time to consider her strategy.
If ‘negative ads’ were bad in April what changed in May?
Back when Perdue renounced negative ads I thought she was kaput. But then Richard Moore walked into – and helped create – the perfect storm. As soon as she renounced the dark side he ran an ad – on race – that was false and got mauled by none other than the grand-guru of North Carolina politics, Jim Hunt himself, for ‘crossing the line.’
In the Presidential race Barack Obama continues to roll. The Democrats’ love affair with Obama is in full bloom. A lot’s been made of his ‘youth vote’ but before Democrats get enraptured about Obama roaring into office on the shoulders of the twenty-something generation remember: We’ve seen this before. Every few years a candidate comes along who mobilizes legions of enthusiastic young people and armies of volunteers. Those candidates often win primaries. But usually lose general elections. Ten-thousand people at Dorton Arena is impressive. But if Obama spoke to 10,000 people every night for a month it’s about 5% of the voters. (And all he’ll have done is talked to 300,000 people who were voting for him anyway.)
More important to Obama during the primaries, he’s forged a solid coalition of African-Americans and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. He set out to move to Hillary left and, in the process, has actually made her look like a centrist. He’s emerged as the liberal candidate and that flies like a rocket ship in primaries but doesn’t have such a good record in general elections. That’s one reason Republicans – who a month ago were cheering for Hillary – are now keeping their fingers crossed for Obama.
The magic of Obama’s rhetoric is also showing signs of wearing thin. His victory speech Tuesday night at Dorton Arena sounded vintage and drew waves of cheers. But think about it: He came out four-square for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Obama’s melody is great but there is something troubling about a candidate whose formula for victory is to say fighting for change means he’s all for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A thousand other politicians – including John McCain – can make the same promise.
Finally, a big loser Tuesday night was bar-be-que dinners. Senator Fred Smith now holds the modern record after holding bar-be-ques in every nook and cranny of North Carolina for a year, then getting upended by Pat McCrory’s 13-week campaign. Senator Smith spent $2.5 million of his own money and made a credible showing but, perhaps, he’d have been wiser to stick to a tried and true formula: Hire a pollster, a TV producer, take his $2.5 million and buy TV time and win the election.