McCain strategy not hitting home with voters, polls suggest

Is it a strategy or a tactic?

I think the McCain camp realized their mistake and are trying to make the best of it. It is so obviously gimmicky - why not run this video contest before Joe arrived? McCain's advisors seem more like promoters of a boxing match or circus act, pulling one stunt after another out of their hats. Palin is probably the best gimmick of all - yes I understand she was already a huge hit, especially among evangelicals for her pro-life stance and her supporters say she is great because she draws a lot of crowds - well the public loves hearing about Britney Spears & Lindsay Lohan, too - just look around you at the grocery store check-out stands. Let's see how many other Joe's they'll bring forward in this last 2-week stretch - I would hope none, but this campaign hasn't ceased to amaze me for how foolish they think the American public is.

This sounds like a fast sinking ship with no life boats desparate for anything. Why talk about issues when you can make cartoons. The McCain campaign is a joke.

"We want to hear from you and share your story with the American public. It's simple -- make an ad telling us why you are 'Joe the Plumber' in 30 seconds and we'll put the best ad on the air as a TV ad," the campaign told supporters in an email.

..or a new "reality show"? What a joke.

Says you and liberal polls.

This may be the worst campaign of my lifetime and I've seen some bad ones (I'm 60). McCain's choice of Palin showed he had no real clue about how to run against Obama. His own advisor says out loud that if the election is about the economy "we lose." McCain has Joe the Plumber, Obama has Colin Powell. Sarah Palin goes on SNL but won't appear on Meet the Press or any other legitimate interview program. Traditionally "red" states are now viewed as "in play" for the democrats. If the democrats don't rout the republicans Nov. 4, they should disband as a party.

They are soooo lost in this campaign. We need issues discussed, not mean spirited soundbites. Sarah may be OK on the soccer field, but not in the White House.

Funny how the BostonNYT is trying to convince us that the election is over but they WILL NOT report on VPElect Biden's GUARANTEE that terrorists will hit us in Obama's 1st year and that poll numbers will drop. Biden goes on to say that we should support them if when we find that their response is not popular...according to Joe: Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound" HMMMM... unpopular is sound - hats of to W. How pathetic a paper is this?

Suffolk University is a liberal poll?

"Says you and liberal polls.

Posted by pah pah October 20, 08 02:59 PM"

I think the people at the Sawyer Business school would not appreciate you painting them with the liberal media brush...

Wow, they'll do ANYTHING to avoid talking about the issues.

You cant say that if President Bush was found to be in any sort of relationship in the past with a terrorist or a group like ACORN everyone would not be all over him. Yet lets just ignore it for a liberal democrat.

Is the McBush campaign turning into American Idol? If so, McBush should be the first contestant eliminated.

Mush Dimbulb campaigned all summer for Palin to be added to the ticket. Evidently the credit crisis caused God to repossess the brains he had "on loan" to Mush.

So anyway, Mush...Thank you! Thank you! Thank you. From the bottom of my bleeding liberal heart, thank you!

McCain and Palin have become completely pathetic. McCain knows he has not run a good campaign and now is resorting to gimmicks. His daughter promising NH to tattoo herself, Palin on SNL and now this ad thing. It is very sad that McCain would resort to these kinds of tactics and can not go by merits alone. Had I not known whom I wanted to vote for in the beginning I would know now. To put someone like this in office would be a mistake. He thinks americans are idiots and appealing to gimmicks like these will sway us. It would surely make us the ignorant society McCain believes us to beif he were to win. Both have used poor campaigning methods to a degree, but Obama has at least answered on the issues and he is respectful of McCain in the debates. I can not tell if McCain is senile, not aware of how he makes himself look when he cuts Obama off in the debates or if he is just plain rude. What I do know is when someone can not let an individual complete their sentences it is because they are not listening and that is what McCain will do to the public. Oh and by the way when he discusses Sarah Palin's sons disability he may want to remember which disability he actually has - he can not even listen to his own running mates issues how can he listen to the american people.

McCain is calling children at their homes, telling them that the next possible president consorts with a terrorist. That's very troubling in these times, but he is unapologetic.

A major McCain fundraiser, Leonore Annenburg, appointed "terrorist" Ayers to the same school panel as Obama. If Ayers is such a threat, McCain should refund her $100,000.

I got a video clip for this "campaign turned into TV contest".

"Hello, my name is not Joe. I'm not a plumber and I don't have a six pack. My income level is not over $250,000. What's the citizen of a 'pro-American' state to do? Well for those of us who are not succumbed to a generic campaign driven stereotype, I only have one question for you. Do you smell what Barack is cookin'? Vote Obama."

Maybe they should give out "green stamps". Collect enough and you get a chafing dish!!!

Im Joe the Plumber, Mccain 2008.... Rich get richer or die trying

Well it's obvious that all of you have both hands out waiting for Obama to fix all of your problems. Socialism is the key word here, and the liberal/leftist is embracing it like a get out of jail free card. Whatever happened to JFKs “Ask not what your Country can do for you….” Now lets hear all you liberals out there say what a racist comment this is. That's what Obama would do. You can do whatever you want, but if you disagree with Obama, you must be a racist. Just ask Mr. Lewis. BTW re Ayers, how did BO get on the board, he didn't know any of the other members. Ayers was the only one on the board that he knew! Liberals aren't offended by terrorist, they tend to embrace them.

Comrades - We'll just have to get used to a Democrat controlled White House and Congress...which, by the way, over the years has shown when one party controls all three (wh, senate, house) nothing much gets done.

No matter who you are rooting for, it will all be okay. Have faith in the forefathers. And know that it will only be a one-term president (guaranteed)

Election futures spreads continue to widen.

Obama: 84.8
McCain: 15.2

Obama has a stunning .7 lead over McCain. You can think of these numbers as percentages. MONEY thinks that Obama has a 84% chance of winning.

Snivel all you want about "liberal media elite" or "liberal polls," the futures markets are more accurate and are non-partisan.

All this liberal certitude that the election is over and President Obama will soon be coronated gives me the more confidence than I've had in a long time that McCain just might pull this out. Generally speaking (once you have hindsight to look back on events) liberals are just about ALWAYS wrong in the same correlation to their certitude witness ' the surge won't work in Iraq'. The fact that you've all declared the deal done gives me hop.

George Gagalis -- "Liberals aren't offended by terrorist, they tend to embrace them."

Do you expect anyone to take you seriously? That sort of foaming-at-the-mouth partisan rhetoric needs to die with Bush's presidency. It's time to pull together, not snarl at eachother over largely perceived differences.

Dearest Pah Pah,

First, since our country was founded as a "liberal democracy" let's please stop using the term 'liberal' as a pejorative. Are we allowed to use 'conservative' and 'fascist' as interchangable terms? Political discourse reduced to name calling is for middle school children - not adults ... or so I thought.

Can any of you so-called "conservatives" actually define "conservative" and "liberal?" I don't even think you know what it means.

It's not "voter fraud" until someone tries to vote in someone else's name.

John McCain has not run a campaign. It's been nothing more than a streaming, dysfunctional, response to whatever is happening at the moment. Darting back to Warshington to fix a bill that was almost completely written. Jumping all over "Joe the Plumber" and then chastising the Obama campaign for trashing Joe in a vailed attempt at martyrism. Frankly, as one who once admired McCain and would have voted for him, his behavior has been apalling, eradic and not worthy of one who wants to rule this nation.

"ACORN, the community activist group under investigation in several states for possible voter registration fraud: "

Community activist group? More like a street level Marxist Mafia..They are criminals.

Possible voter registration fraud? Are you kidding Foon? This criminal activity goes back to 2002. Is anybody at The Globe going to connect the dots between Obama and the Acorn mob? Never..NYT and The Globe, ABC, NBC and CBS are in the tank for Obama. "I know it, they know it and the American people know it. " Our electoral process and constitutional democaracy is in a meltdown....Journalists are asleep at the wheel..or are they?

McCain's sound bites which have nothing to do with the challanges that are facing our Nation appeal to those on the far right that care little about talking through the issues that will help this Country regain its standing in the world. Its Carl Rove politics and I am glad to say that they don't seem to be sticking this time. Joe turned out to be something other than what he projected. McCain has once again shown poor judgement. Nice Guy but not Presidential.

The vitriol of the right is truly disheartening. Obama and his supporters are "Marxist Mafia, criminals, they embrace terrorists" and on and on, repeating the rabid barks of the Savages, Limbaughs and Coulters of the world. They call out for Obama to be killed at their rallies and neither McCain nor Palin will say anything to dispute this.

The one thing that can be guaranteed is that should Obama win on November 4, November 5 will be the dawn of the most massive campaign ever designed to destroy a President-elect, and will continue unabated no matter what good Obama does for the country and the world. Sad, very sad.

The liberal media will not give any Republican a chance. The influence you have over the uninformed electorate is why Obama is where he is today. He has associated himself with racists, radicals, and corrupt politicians. That's a fact.

It's a damn shame for OB that he can't get elected by the polls.

I will wear my wife's lipstick when I go to vote this year. One person, one vote. What a concept.

Obama is where he is at today because there are no conservative intellectuals left who believe in what their party is now doing. As a consequence, the GOP is berift of ideas and has only rhetoric-in fact, this is the only reason a mediocre candiate like McCain could rise to the position he is in. In 2000, he didn't (rightly) stand a chance.
Is Obama liberal? You betcha! Is he a socialist? Only an idiot would conflate the two, and certainly no one who understands conservative thought would make that claim.
Is it a problem that we will have a one party Executive and House? Of course! But dont blame the "liberal media" or the voters. Blame ourselves. We have let the true conservatives leave the party in disgust, and we have replaced them with lummoxes, talk radio hosts, and xenophobes. "Conservative" doesn't mean drinking PBR, watching American Idol,, or "small town values." "Conservative" can't tell the difference between a plumber and an MBA from Harvard. And none of you get that.
That is why Obama will win.

There are thousands of voters who are telling the pollsters that they are voting for Obama because they want the pollsters to believe that they are being politically correct. When they get into the voting booth, they will be voting for McCain.

So bestofluck, we're supposed to ignore the repug utter voter fraud, tampering with voting machines, disenfranchising EVERYONE not connected to the nazi (er...repug) party for the last 8 (but really much more than that) years. Compared to you scum, ACORN is is a joke. Hold on, you're about to be flushed out of the world forever!

So many posters who shout "liberal!" don't even know what it means. The religious right and Republicans gave the word a bad name, the same as they did for Communist, atheist, secular, humanist and the list goes on. If being liberal means having a clear head when faced with making decisions rather than using your gut, then I want more liberals. If being a liberal means being cautious instead of blindsighted blundering then I want more liberals. If being liberal means having the same respect for the lives of young men and women as it does for a fetus or an "unborn child" then I want more liberals.

"Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now."I am quoting a song from my youth.

For whoever mentioned the Bradley Effect: The Bradley Effect took place almost 30 years ago, and as of two weeks ago sources stated that pre-election polls submitted at the time were not an accurate reflection of average sampling.
Where you might say that some people are telling pollsters that they'll vote for Obama, and then come voting time go with McCain, the other side of the issue also claims that due to the current economy, that has become a reality partially due to the Bush Administration's deregulation policies, many republicans may be telling pollsters that they'll be voting McCain, but come voting time will go with Obama. The fact that Bernanke endorsed Obama and his democratic economic plan shouldn't help McCain and his fellow republicans either.

Just some perspective.