Killing Time
It’s come killing time in the presidential race and the Old Admiral’s in trouble – it’s the fourth quarter, he’s behind and he’s got to drive the ball down the field and score, right now, or he’s going to find himself throwing ‘Hail Mary’ passes.
We Republicans keep telling ourselves Barack Obama’s not tough enough to be president but one thing he’s not afraid of at all is John McCain: At the debate the other night he turned to the Old Admiral and looked him in the eye and said, You say I’m green and reckless because I’ll go into Pakistan after Osama Bin Laden but you’re the one who sang ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran’ and who wants to attack North Korea – so who’s reckless?
Obama might as well have cuffed the Old Admiral with a glove, challenged him to a duel and said, You pick the weapons. If McCain ever needed to step to the plate and hit the ball over the fence that was the moment.
z
In our Senate race Liddy Dole needs a touchdown too but she’s got an even tougher problem than McCain: Kay Hagan has the ball. Hagan’s dominating the Senate race and Mrs. Dole hasn’t come up with a way to stop her. Liddy’s folks are trying, at last she’s put up some negative ads, but she’s got two problems: Those ads look like most of the political ads people have been seeing for twenty years. My guess is as soon as they come on women tune out and men reach for the clickers.
Second, Mrs. Dole’s ads are lists of facts – which is fine – but they don’t paint a picture. Senator Dole’s running black and white ads throwing facts at Hagan left and right but no one is quite sure whether or not to believe them. Senator Dole needs to fill in the colors and paint a picture of Hagan that makes those facts fit a pattern. Liddy pulling her hair and screaming Kay raised taxes tells folks Liddy’s opinion – but folks need a more rounded picture to make up their mind if Liddy’s right.
z
Bev Perdue only needs a field goal to catch Pat McCrory but McCrory just keeps methodically running the ball up the middle and getting first downs and he doesn’t look likely to fumble.
Perdue’s folks have one big problem: Perdue. Her campaign’s like a blockbuster movie with a star who can’t act. Bev Perdue’s come-on is just too sweet and too cute and the sooner they get her off their ads and off the air the better it will be for them.
They also have one big plus: Money. They’re going to, or ought to, be able to outspend McCrory by a couple of million dollars. That’s enough to pay for one of those ‘shock and awe’ political attacks.
And they may have one other plus: If, heaven forbid, the Democratic stars align and Obama wins North Carolina and Hagan wins then it’s going to be hard to see Perdue biting the dust – but, then again, who ever expected to see Obama with a chance to beat McCain here or Kay Hagan leading Liddy Dole?
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Killing Time
It’s come killing time in the presidential race and the Old Admiral’s in trouble – it’s the fourth quarter, he’s behind and he’s got to drive the ball down the field and score, right now, or he’s going to find himself throwing ‘Hail Mary’ passes.
We Republicans keep telling ourselves Barack Obama’s not tough enough to be president but one thing he’s not afraid of at all is John McCain: At the debate the other night he turned to the Old Admiral and looked him in the eye and said, You say I’m green and reckless because I’ll go into Pakistan after Osama Bin Laden but you’re the one who sang ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran’ and who wants to attack North Korea – so who’s reckless?
Obama might as well have cuffed the Old Admiral with a glove, challenged him to a duel and said, You pick the weapons. If McCain ever needed to step to the plate and hit the ball over the fence that was the moment.
z
In our Senate race Liddy Dole needs a touchdown too but she’s got an even tougher problem than McCain: Kay Hagan has the ball. Hagan’s dominating the Senate race and Mrs. Dole hasn’t come up with a way to stop her. Liddy’s folks are trying, at last she’s put up some negative ads, but she’s got two problems: Those ads look like most of the political ads people have been seeing for twenty years. My guess is as soon as they come on women tune out and men reach for the clickers.
Second, Mrs. Dole’s ads are lists of facts – which is fine – but they don’t paint a picture. Senator Dole’s running black and white ads throwing facts at Hagan left and right but no one is quite sure whether or not to believe them. Senator Dole needs to fill in the colors and paint a picture of Hagan that makes those facts fit a pattern. Liddy pulling her hair and screaming Kay raised taxes tells folks Liddy’s opinion – but folks need a more rounded picture to make up their mind if Liddy’s right.
z
Bev Perdue only needs a field goal to catch Pat McCrory but McCrory just keeps methodically running the ball up the middle and getting first downs and he doesn’t look likely to fumble.
Perdue’s folks have one big problem: Perdue. Her campaign’s like a blockbuster movie with a star who can’t act. Bev Perdue’s come-on is just too sweet and too cute and the sooner they get her off their ads and off the air the better it will be for them.
They also have one big plus: Money. They’re going to, or ought to, be able to outspend McCrory by a couple of million dollars. That’s enough to pay for one of those ‘shock and awe’ political attacks.
And they may have one other plus: If, heaven forbid, the Democratic stars align and Obama wins North Carolina and Hagan wins then it’s going to be hard to see Perdue biting the dust – but, then again, who ever expected to see Obama with a chance to beat McCain here or Kay Hagan leading Liddy Dole?
Click Here to discuss and comment on this and other articles.