Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Jack Betts says Senator Elizabeth Dole “missed a golden opportunity” to strengthen her chances for reelection when she waffled on the Outlying Landing Field. But Dole is much bigger. It’s her numbers. Not her poll numbers, but the numbers the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s brilliant ads have hammered into voters’ minds: 40, as in “40…
John McCain has come up with the one Hail Mary issue that can snatch victory: spread the wealth. And the one image: Joe the Plumber. Attacking on “spread the wealth” pulls together all the attacks McCain makes against Obama: he’ll raise taxes, he’s an elitist who doesn’t understand “real people” and – most of all…
Democrats are giddy about North Carolina. That’s understandable. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a year that looks this good. But this election is not over. My best read on the polls is that Obama, Perdue and Hagan all are close to – but not yet at – where they need to be…
One thing about campaigns: They do have a way of getting down to home truths – though most times they try pretty hard to hide it. One home truth is the candidate’s character. Or, occasionally, the character of whoever is behind the candidate pulling the strings. Another is the external forces beyond the candidate’s control…
Well, last night I watched the Great Debate and a couple of things struck me. When the smoke cleared there were three different groups all pursuing different goals: The Obama supporters. The McCain supporters. And the press. The goals of the Obama and McCain supporters were simple: To pound their chests and holler they’d won.…
John McCain could beat Barack Obama. But he can’t beat the combination of Obama, George Bush, Dow Jones and, most of all, John McCain himself. McCain came out swinging last night. And he connected repeatedly. Unfortunately, most of his punches landed squarely on his own jaw. The media and talking heads have spewed out millions…
If there were a Nobel Prize for Being Stupid, it would be shared this year by the 3,200 academics who signed an on-line petition defending William Ayers. Thereby guaranteeing continued news coverage of Obama and Ayers. It makes you wonder why we save all this money to send our kids to college. Click Here to…
Ruth Sheehan’s column this morning raises a perennial campaign complaint: “The Democrats/Republicans are stealing our yard signs!” No campaign manager has ever escaped getting that call. Yard signs are the bane of a campaign. They cost money, and no political pro believes they do any good. But any candidate – as well as his or…
I recently heard a presentation by one of the best media-training professionals I’ve ever met, Don Rheem of Washington. He wasn’t talking about the presidential race, but he made a comment that summed up John McCain’s problem: “People don’t care what you think until they know that you care.” McCain has never made a fundamental…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…
A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…