August 10, 2012

Obama's slightly ahead in most polls...

... by he's actually in serious trouble, for 4 reasons. I'll just highlight reason #3: Money.
Romney has been outraising Obama for the last three months; in July, the GOP candidate and his party took in $101 million to Obama and the DNC's $75 million. Obama also has been spending his campaign cash faster than it's coming in, investing up front in staff, field offices, and the early ad blitz they hope will define Romney. That means the Republicans also now have more cash on hand to spend down the stretch, $170 million to the Democrats' $144 million as of the end of June. And then there's all the pro-Romney super PACs, which are expected to far outgun their Democratic counterparts, possibly spending as much as $1 billion. As Obama himself complained at a campaign stop in Colorado Thursday: "Over the next three months, you will see more negative ads, more money spent than you've ever seen in your life. I mean, these super PACs, these guys are writing $10 million checks and giving them to Mr. Romney's supporters."
Funny that he's complaining about the next 3 months. He's gone heavily negative in the past 3 months, spending a disproportionate amount of money early, betting that he can win by planting it in everyone's head that Romney's an evil rich guy. If that gamble were working, Obama would be doing better in the polls. Now, Romney has much more money. It's scarcely unfair! Obama and his people made a decision about how to campaign, and they should own it, not whine about it.

And I don't trust the polls. I'd like to see the internal polls, which are not about spinning public opinion. Presumably, these displays of desperation tell us something about what they're looking at in the secret, honest polls.

101 comments:

Joe Schmoe said...

#4 is titled Voter Suppression? And then in the fine print the author brings up the number of states that have passed voter ID laws. What a crock of shit. That's the best marketing job since turning abortion into a 'right to choose'.

David said...

People who mostly consume msm are not getting the message.

My hopelessly lefty but otherwise intelligent and decent son-in-law recently was having a chuckle about Romney's gaffe-o-rama European trip.

He believes this to be true. Why wouldn't he, given the coverage it received?

ricpic said...

If you don't live in a battleground state you can actually live a half-normal life for the next three months.

But rh will be under assault 24/7.

David said...

Althouse thinks all the negative campaigning by the Obama people reveals weakness and desperation.

Perhaps.

I tend to the view that it simply reveals how intrinsically nasty they are.

The Drill SGT said...

What Joe said.

And she leaves out other 5th reason Obama isn't really ahead.

Democratic intimidation tactics mask a big "Bradley effect". The more the unions, Greens, Pinks, Lavenders, Reds, Browns, Blacks, make it racist for anybody to speak out against teh Won, the more there is a backlash that won't show up until folks get into the Voters booth.

traditionalguy said...

Harry Reid was told by an unnamed poll that the election is over now and Obama has won.

Mitt needs to send Ann riding her horse. Maybe that can get Mitt some airtime that is not replays of over the top lies about Mitt made up by Obama. Those are lies that never required a payment to run on TV, but were run thousands of times anyway on free analysis pieces about the lie that has not been run.

Palladian said...

As Obama himself complained at a campaign stop in Colorado Thursday: "Over the next three months, you will see more negative ads, more money spent than you've ever seen in your life.

Can the man whose administration has racked up trillions of dollars in debt and who has sprayed money at his cronies with a fire hose really call a few hundred million "more money spent than you've ever seen in your life"?

We've all seen more money spent than we've ever seen, and ever will see, in our lives: the last 3.5 years of your administration.

Synova said...

" Obama also has been spending his campaign cash faster than it's coming in,..."

Sort of how the country is run.

prairie wind said...

Obama and his people made a decision about how to campaign, and they should own it, not whine about it.

Petulance is his thing. It always has been.

Christopher in MA said...

Petulance is his thing. It always has been.

And buck-passing.

edutcher said...

Ann's right and so is David.

As we've discussed off and on here, the polls for media consumption are mostly rigged. The two out yesterday are perfect examples:

Fox spots the Demos 9 points

CNN is adults (about 1/4 will vote) and registered voters; no party split, but the MOE doubles when they surveyed the political subgroups (D/R/I).

And, yes, that enthusiasm gap is going to be a killer, as it was in '10.

garage mahal said...

Mitt should pick a Chick Fil-A chicken sandwich for Veep. It may be his only hope.

The next four years should give Republicans plenty of time to do some soul searching and reinvent themselves. Don't get discouraged! I'll be here the whole time to help.

We can do this. Together.

Chip Ahoy said...

Once I heard Gore Vidal answer who he thought would win an upcoming election. I forget which one. He answered that he didn't think, he knew who would win. The surprised interviewer asked how he knew in advance and Vidal answered, "Money. Whoever has the most wins." And I thought that was cynical, and he turned out to be right in that instance. He kind of convinced me.

But now I'm seeing something different down ticket. Is that how you say that? Surprise upsets with less advantage like the Senate one in Texas just now, and it seems to me a surprising number of those. Vidal is not dead. I myself have a good streak of Vidal, the fiend might have contributed to that last transfusion, he didn't mention that something inside us is cheered when we see others flailing. It's a character flaw. This makes me happy.

Could do something about it, stop verifyi ... yeeeeah, bundle contributions to skir ... yeeeeah, send the wife ou ... yeeeeah, all that, there are things they could do.

Squirm. Please keep showing us the email appeals. Those are fun. Almost worth signing up just to see 'em but then they'd be all up in my digits.

Methadras said...

Ann, your analysis only further proves what I've said this whole time. These polls are bogus. Romney is much further ahead than anyone is willing to say.

Eric said...

Obama is ahead in the polls because pollsters are heavily oversampling Democrats in an effort to make it look like a close race. Romney is going to beat him pretty handily unless he does something to turn it around.

Running the kind of ads he's running is a big risk, and his campaign wouldn't be taking it if their internal polling didn't look so bad.

Chip Ahoy said...

Now see, now Garage, that's funny!

gerry said...

This will get under somebidy's skin.

Heh.

Anonymous said...

I encourage you to read the new book by Samuel Popkin called "The Candidate" It is about what it takes to get to WH. Chapter 4 is about Hillary and 2008. How Obama defeated her. And, you can guess, it is a blue-print on how Obama will defeat Romney. Enjoy.

hombre said...

That's a good Romney ad. It would have been better with a woman's voice.

Balfegor said...

Presumably, these displays of desperation tell us something about what they're looking at in the secret, honest polls.

Maybe. I think they're just executing on the strategy they decided on early, which was to slime Romney ASAP before he has a chance to get his national campaign in gear to respond. They may be experiencing some surprise that it's not working as well as they hoped (Obama campaign officials had been talking big about how they were going to destroy Romney, earlier in the year before Romney emerged as the winner of the primary process), but I don't think the fact that they're going this negative this early is a reflection of panic on their part.

Indeed, I'm pretty sure they knew they were going to have to do exactly what they're doing going in. The President has almost no accomplishments to his name. Obamacare is not a winning issue for him. The stimulus is not a winning issue for him. Killing Osama bin Laden is thrillingly popular (and I expect him to "spike the football" again and dance his heart out in the endzone on 9/11), but he can only talk about that so many times before it becomes comical, like Rudy Giuliani and 9/11. His path to reelection was always going to rely on sliming the Republican candidate, no matter who it was.

Bender said...

Obama's slightly ahead in most polls [but] he's actually in serious trouble . . . He's gone heavily negative in the past 3 months . . . If that gamble were working, Obama would be doing better in the polls

Obama IS doing better, much better, than he should be.

With this disaster of an economy, with the level of anger at government at an all-time high, Romney should be ahead by 30 points.

The fact that Romney is not, in fact, running away with it shows: (1) The attacks by Dems are working. (2) Romney is incredibly weak.

The fact is that people appreciate and respect strength in a leader. Consequently, even a thug and liar can have significant support. But people have little respect for weak, wishy-washy putzes whose responses to outrageous smears range from whining and crying about it, to a lukewarm "disappointment," to effectively validating them by not even disputing the smears.

edutcher said...

prairie wind said...

Obama and his people made a decision about how to campaign, and they should own it, not whine about it.

Petulance is his thing. It always has been.


How to exploit that is covered here.

Alex said...

I hope Romney can buy this election.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Obama is such a whiny little pussy. Does he really think whining will get him voter support?

ricpic said...

Romney doesn't need all those Chick-Fil-A yokels. He's gonna win it the comfortable people way, steering well clear of all that nasty downscale social issues stuff. That-a-boy Romney, run away from your base...well, the base that wants to be your base and might be your base if you didn't let them know they embarrass you...schmuck.

gerry said...

but I don't think the fact that they're going this negative this early is a reflection of panic on their part

Negativity isn't a panic indicator, but the massive expenditure of campaign funds so early is.

La Pasionaria said...

I read on NRO a comment (cant find it right now) I agreed with, which analyzed Dick Lugars primary defeat and compared his campaign to the more succesful campaign of Orrin Hatch. The author wrote that the difference was, that Hatch fought back hard and early, took the challenge seriously from the beginning and thus framed the race.

Lugar on the other hand ignored Moudock for a very long time and so gave him the chance to shape the playing field.

It looks like the President is busy to determin the general direction of this campaign and I dont see Mr. Romney responding in kind.

The question is not really what motivates the Presidents campaign - they may be a little bite deperate - the question is: Does it work?

Anonymous said...

Although Obama may pull out a win in the end, the atmosphere around here tells me that he won't.

Four years ago, both my office an neighborhood was abuzz with Obama, and talk about the election (yes, even in August). Obama support was ubiquitous and vocal.

This year, I have not heard a single person talking about the election (except for fellow Republicans who are eager to vote). I have not directly or indirectly heard any positive comment about Obama (or negative statement about Romney) from the Democrats that I know.

gerry said...

Hmmmm... and eh?

Zach said...

That billion dollar fundraising target is going to haunt Obama. It was too ambitious, and he scaled up his operations too much.

Suppose your cost of funds increases linearly with every dollar you raise. Then your total costs will go as the square of your fundraising target. So it really matters if you hit that target.

For example: if you plan on raising a billion dollars, and figure that it will cost you 50 cents to raise that last dollar, your total expenses will be $250 million. If you set up that kind of infrastructure but only raise $500 million, you've spent half of your total without ever talking to a voter.

The figures are even worse if you planned on raising the absolute most money that you could -- spending your last dollar to raise one additional dollar. Now your expenses are half as large as your goal, and you have to raise $500 million before you can talk to voters at all.

This is all superficial analysis -- I don't know how much it costs for the campaigns to raise money, and a lot of these costs are variable, not fixed. But falling short of a big target can be much worse than raising the same amount with less overhead.

Cedarford said...

ricpic - "That-a-boy Romney, run away from your base...well, the base that wants to be your base and might be your base if you didn't let them know they embarrass you...schmuck."

==============
Look, Obama's Base is the OWS, wealthy liberal and progressive jewish elites, black thugs and welfare mammies.

Be sure he has nothing but contempt for his OWS and black inferiors. While he feels it is his job to borrow money from China or take it from citizens to "spread the wealth to them" - he would count on security to keep them from the posh parties and nice golf courses he lives for.

As for Romney...I don't sense he is close to being as arrogant and contemptuous of the ill-educated, backwards yokels and rubes in his Base, as Obama is.

TWM said...

"Mitt should pick a Chick Fil-A chicken sandwich for Veep. It may be his only hope."

Yeah, yeah, and Walker isn't Wisconsin's governor anymore.

Your predictions are for crap.

bgates said...

Mitt should pick a Chick Fil-A chicken sandwich for Veep.

It could win a debate vs Biden, and it undoubtedly contributes more to the economy than Obama, but Romney could still do better.

The Drill SGT said...


Zach said...
That billion dollar fundraising target is going to haunt Obama. It was too ambitious, and he scaled up his operations too much.



I agree with the basic logic. I can't help chortling over the diffeence 4 years makes. Last time the Bama broke the public funding promise, played fast and loose with donataion verification etc, and smirked about outspending McCain 3-1. Now they are going to go into the last 90 days behind in funds and they are whining :)

PS: With Obama needy for cash, and controlling the DNC, expect the downballot impacts to be brutal. No DNC cash available for close last minute Congressional campaign support. I bet in order to get Obamacare votes, Obama made lots of 2012 promises to Senators that are going to be broken.

Shanna said...

It's way too early to pay this much attention to polls.

Tim said...

"And I don't trust the polls. I'd like to see the internal polls, which are not about spinning public opinion. Presumably, these displays of desperation tell us something about what they're looking at in the secret, honest polls."

On one hand, I'd like to believe the obvious: that this epic (and predictably so) failure of a president cannot possibly win re-election, that his failures are so obvious that all but the most committed leaches comprising the Democrat base will either not vote, or vote for Romney, and that data is showing up in the professional polls of the campaigns.

Yet, I never believed Americans would be so stupid as to vote for the least experienced man ever nominated for the presidency by a major political party, but they did.

Everything in my life, observed or experienced, tells me that stupid people making stupid decisions rarely, if ever, self-correct. They are too dumb to do so, and often require repeated, extreme intervention - basically, they have to be forced, against their wills, to fix their mistakes, or suffer serious consequences.

Frankly, I have no reason to believe, or expect, Obama voters to be smart enough to see their mistakes for what they are, to self-correct in the upcoming election.

To be sure, there is a glimmer of hope - a recent Gallup poll suggests as many as ten percent of Obama voters will flip their votes to Romney - if true, this is heartening (not just because of what it means for the election), as it suggests some people can make profoundly stupid mistakes, recognize them as such, and then fix it.

And make no mistake: voting for Obama was an easily avoided mistake - his unsuitability or lack of qualifications for office (and I don't mean the birther nonsense) was so obvious, so transparent, that any Obama voter with a sense of shame should be profoundly embarrassed by that vote.

It wasn't a hard call, people, at all.

Roy Lofquist said...

"At Pew Research, the response rate of a typical telephone survey was 36% in 1997 and is just 9% today."

http://www.people-press.org/2012/05/15/assessing-the-representativeness-of-public-opinion-surveys/

The polls are sampling a miniscule 9% of the people they try to talk to. The self-selection bias inherent in this makes them no more accurate than Ann's fun polls.

Tim said...

garage mahal said...

"Mitt should pick a Chick Fil-A chicken sandwich for Veep. It may be his only hope."

A half-eaten, day old Chick Fil-A chicken sandwich would double your SAT score, and triple VP Biden's.

Yes, you, as dim as you are, are smarter than our Vice President.

But before you get too excited, I have a pile of drainage rocks in my backyard smarter than our Vice-President.

Pastafarian said...

Shanna, people have been saying that for months. A few months ago, I agreed; but it's mid-August. We only have 3 months left. That will fly by; and I can't believe that there are very many undecideds left who could go either way in the next 3 months.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...


The next four years should give Republicans plenty of time to do some soul searching and reinvent themselves.


Considering the Republicans are going to be busy running the House & Senate, your imbecilic comments make no sense.

Of course they never do.

garage mahal said...

Considering the Republicans are going to be busy running the House & Senate, your imbecilic comments make no sense.

Yes, the turnout and coat tails from Romney will be huge. Huuuge.

Not sure what leads you to believe the Senate will flip. But Republicans are impressively optimistic for some reason.

Pastafarian said...

Tim: "...basically, they have to be forced, against their wills, to fix their mistakes, or suffer serious consequences."

What's the U6 unemployment rate for all of those young people who voted for Obama last time? 50% or so?

Those are some pretty serious consequences.

Bruce Hayden said...

My guess is that both campaigns have a lot of internal pooling that is a lot more accurate. For example, it doesn't over-sample Dems, assuming that turnout will be the same in 2012 as it was in 2008, but rather over-samples Reps, due to the enthusiasm factor. And, my further guess is that it is showing Romney ahead in the critical states, based on which campaign seems to be confident, and which one seems to be in panic mode.

Yes, the Obama people knew that they were going to go negative. But, it still seems like they are shooting their wad quite early. So, we see a constantly ratcheting up of the charges - was mean to his dog; didn't pay enough taxes; didn't pay income tax for 10 years; is a felon; is a murderer, etc. I suspect that mass-murderer is next. Then what? We still have almost 3 months left. While Obama himself, and not just his surrogates, starts spouting this stuff, Romney remains upbeat, and just asks Obama for the civility he ran on in 2008.

The problem for Obama is that his campaign and his surrogates are already over the top. The only way that anyone could have seen Romney's tax returns is by committing multiple felonies. And, the claim of murder (for the woman whose husband was laid off five years earlier by a Bain controlled steel company - after Romney had left Bain) was debunked within one news cycle.

Much of what Obama had going for him in 2008, and still has going for him, is that a majority think that he is a nice guy. Inept, inexperienced, etc., but nice. Nice guys don't campaign like this, and when nice guy goes, so does his campaign. And, once nice guy goes, in the American mind, I think so do his polling numbers, with a lot of those who wouldn't admit voting against him, now admitting that they will.

One of the reasons that I think that the internal polling numbers are veering towards Romney is that he is able to out-fund-raise Obama. Smart money that didn't jump onto McCain's campaign, is now going to Romney. Of course, they didn't know how bad Obama was going to be for the economy back then, but...

Brent said...

But Republicans are impressively optimistic for some reason.

FINALLY! something you got right.

Tell me how those Wisconsin Supreme Court and Governor predictions you made turned again . . . . ?

Pastafarian said...

Hey garage -- are you a gambling man? Would you care to make a wager on the outcome of the presidential election?

garage mahal said...

Tell me how those Wisconsin Supreme Court and Governor predictions you made turned again . . . . ?

For the 100th time I didn't make any predictions on the Walker recall.

avwh said...

I have a 24-year-old son who graduated with honors, was a double major (Econ & Poli Sci). He's had a paycheck for a total of 4 months since graduating 2+ years ago. Also has had two unpaid internships in that time.

Yeah, he's a big fan of the Obama economy.

Pastafarian said...

I'm not talking about anything as banal as a money bet, garage.

I'm not 100% sure if I want to offer these terms, but let's discuss: If Obama wins, you choose the avatar I'll use here in the Althouse comments, for one year. If Romney wins, I'll choose yours.

What do you think?

Nathan Alexander said...

The fact that Romney is not, in fact, running away with it shows: (1) The attacks by Dems are working. (2) Romney is incredibly weak.

The fact is that people appreciate and respect strength in a leader. Consequently, even a thug and liar can have significant support.


The fact that Romney is not, in fact, running away with shows just one thing:

Voters say bought for much longer than politicians do.

Call that Brainfertilizer Rule #2. It is easier to believe/understand than that so many people are really that willingly stupid.

garage mahal said...

The polls are wrong.
The polls don't matter.
The secret ones show Romney winning.

Good stuff meng.

Michael K said...

An Obama voter called High Hewitt yesterday. She had some story about she could have died because she didn't have insurance. It turned out she didn't get the expensive tests and nothing happened so her "could have died" was fantasy.

Then Hewitt, who does such good interviews, asked her the vital question. "Do you have insurance now?"

Her answer was classic Obama voter.

"Of course, I have Obamacare !"

She thinks that Obamacare is in effect ! She might as well have said he is paying her rent and car payment.

That's why he is still even in the polls. Mass stupidity. You can't make this stuff up !

Nathan Alexander said...

For the 100th time I didn't make any predictions on the Walker recall.

I remember you making predictions.

Maybe late the in the game your inherent basic sense made you keep your mouth shut.

But you did say several times that 1 million signatures meant that Walker was going to lose the recall.

And you said that Walker was going to get indicted "any day now".

So there are two predictions you made that turned out completely wrong.

edutcher said...

One thing that hasn't been getting the attention it needs to is Commandante Zero's latest bright idea - to bailout every other industry the way he did the auto makers.

That oughta work.

La Pasionaria said...

It looks like the President is busy to determin the general direction of this campaign and I dont see Mr. Romney responding in kind.

The question is not really what motivates the Presidents campaign - they may be a little bite deperate - the question is: Does it work?


The Romster can't go to work on Choom until he's officially the nominee. Then he can use that money.

But, yeah, I hear you.

machine said...

What about the Fox news poll...showing a growing lead for the President...

garage mahal said...

@Nathan
You're full of shit. Link it or zip it!

I Callahan said...

If Romney would listen to Krauthammer, he'd have a bigger lead:

The Case Against Re-Election

edutcher said...

machine said...

What about the Fox news poll...showing a growing lead for the President...

What about it?

As I said in my first comment:

Fox spots the Demos 9 points.

The split is 44 D/35 R, with those kinds of odds, yeah, Zero looks great.

machine said...

uh huh...

Bender said...

Sorry Callahan, Gov. Dukakis, er, I mean, Gov. Romney has decided to run a "competence, not ideology" campaign.

Even in the primaries, Romney's campaign was devoid of any real substance, with the main reasons given to vote for him were he's the inevitable nominee and he can beat Obama. Both arguments being, of course, merely presumption upon presumption.

And now, that is largely what his campaign is about -- "I'm not Obama," together with an arrogant presumptuousness by his "wizards of smart" campaign team.

There is a reason that, despite six years of running for president, Romney could never top about 30 percent in the primaries. He is weak. He doesn't stand for anything beyond "elect me," and even then he is unwilling to fight, and he would rather lose and have Obama re-elected than repudiate RomneyCare and his innate moderate squishiness.

I Callahan said...

Bender - I hope you're wrong, but I suspect you're right. If Romney loses, he'll have no one but himself to blame.

They don't call the GOP the stupid party for nothing.

Nathan Alexander said...

@mahal,
@Nathan
You're full of shit. Link it or zip it!


I'm just using the same standard of proof you used to claim Walker was guilty of something or other and was going to be indicted.

I guess we can hold you to the "link it or zip it" standard from now on?

Probably not. You are hopelessly hypocritical in most of your actions.

Nathan Alexander said...

@garage,
I just realized my response wasn't clear.

Your predictions about the Walker recall were so prevalent, it is common knowledge. There is no need for me to link anything for it to be true. I don't need a link to prove that the sun rises in a generally east-ish direction due to the rotation of the earth and changes of orientation throughout the year.

So, yeah:
You predicted that the million signatures were significant enough that Walker was going to lose.

Understandable that you don't want to remember it, though.

Christy said...

Thanks to Althouse's link recently to cheap or free kindle books, I came across this little gem in Thucydides' The History of the Peloponnesian War : "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Sound like the Obama campaign has been studying their ancient history? No, I doubt it too.

To provide evidence of my own vulgarity let me quote a re-quoted comment on Politico that I just loved and wish would go viral.
"I do not like Barack Obam, I do not like his health care scam. I do not like that sneaky crook, or how he lies and cooks the books. I do not like it when he steals, I do not like his secret deals. I do not like that metro man, I do not like his 'YES WE CAN.' I do not like his spending spree, does he not know that nothing's free? I do not like his smug replies, I do not like his constant lies. I do not like his kind of hope. I do not like it. Nope, nope, nope."

garage mahal said...

There is no need for me to link anything for it to be true.

C'mon now. You don't have to lie to make friends.

shiloh said...

Althouse, along w/her con flock keeps wishin'/hopin'/prayin' ...

'nuf said!

Nathan Alexander said...

@garage,
C'mon now. You don't have to lie to make friends.

I'm not lying, and we all know it.

I don't have the time to search through old archives. I think you are counting on that fact in service of your lie, which is that you made no predictions about the Walker recall.

I'd like to say that such dishonesty is beneath you, but it isn't.

edutcher said...

shiloh said...

Althouse, along w/her con flock keeps wishin'/hopin'/prayin' ...

'nuf said!


Yeah, the fact that the numbers are phony has nothing to do with it.

Still waiting for those rebuttals.

Hagar said...

Money itself is a very good poll in that it tends to show both what some people who have money to spend and think elctions are important want to happen and what they think will happen.

And it's their money, not just talk.

garage mahal said...

I don't have the time to search through old archives.

You seem to have a lot of time to post multiple times here.

Christy said...

Of the 1920 hits GARAGE and WALKER get on Althouse I found this on the second page:
garage mahal said...
Walker & Co. will destroy their party in this state. I say, good riddance.

2/16/12 9:02 AM


Stop squabbling and go clean up your room! Both of you!

Bender said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bender said...

Bender - I hope you're wrong, but I suspect you're right. If Romney loses, he'll have no one but himself to blame.

Not to promote myself, but to repeat what I said here back in February --
Romney has not grown on people in the last five years, and he won't grow on them in the next nine months, except in a bad way. Instead, people will start getting a sick feeling in their stomach contemplating the thought of having to force themselves to go "hold their nose" to vote for him without a fit of projectile vomiting. And all this combined with getting pissed off at being expected to defend Romney's indefensibles, such as RomneyCare. . . .
2/1/12 2:50 PM


Don't expect things to get much better. "But at least he's not Obama!" Yeah, great campaign slogan.

garage mahal said...

Now Mitt wants a truce!

Sydney said...

Hagar said,

Money itself is a very good poll in that it tends to show both what some people who have money to spend and think elctions are important want to happen and what they think will happen.

And it's their money, not just talk.


Yes. We assume that the campaign with the most money usually wins because they can outspend their opponent in campaign ads, etc. But what if the money is just a harbringer of the vote? The more popular the candidate, the more money he raises. He wins because he is the choice of more people, not because he raised more money.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Money is bad bad bad. Except when it's for democrats. Especially Democrat cronies with billions.

Hagar said...

Well, it is more complicated than that. And "popularity" does not necessarily have that much to do with it if you are running a multi-national corporation.

Hagar said...

It's more about these people putting their money, or the money they control anyway, where they think it will do the most good to ensure theirs, and the company's, survival.
And they and their advisers have been through a few elections before.

Mark said...

Reason 5 to believe Obama's in trouble: Democrats in tight races don't want to be in the same ZIP code with the man.

Brian Brown said...

machine said...
What about the Fox news poll...showing a growing lead for the President...


It sampled Democrats at 44%

What is your point, idiot?

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Yes, the turnout and coat tails from Romney will be huge. Huuuge.

Not sure what leads you to believe the Senate will flip


Please list the close senate race where a Democrat is bringing the President in to campaign?

Oh, you can't?

Gee, it is real, real complicated.

Idiot.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Republicans are impressively optimistic for some reason.


I'm not the one touting polls that over sample Democrats and pretending the election is over in August.

Idiot.

garage mahal said...

Maybe we should call a truce on polling.

garage mahal said...

If we can't find any polls favorable to Romney lets just scrap the whole damn thing.

Cedarford said...

Bender as Prophet, proudly reminding people of his February profoundity:

And all this combined with getting pissed off at being expected to defend Romney's indefensibles, such as RomneyCare. . . .

Voters of Mass to Romney and elected Dem officials: Health care in Mass is broken. Fix it. Work it out.
Romney and Dems - OK, but it will be a compromise no side likes perfectly, but will be better than the broken mess we have now!

6 years later, assessing the product, 69% of people in Mass are happy with Romneycare.

--------------
So it is quite defensible -

1. Unless you are a rural goober or yahoo convinced that the existing healthcare system is perfect...and hate things like trammelling the freedom of drug companies to charge as they wish or wanting an end to free riders out of some bizarre religious right litmus test.

2. Or Bender is somewhere within the current broken system, making good money off it.

Sydney said...

Hagar,

But these days it isn't just corporations and rich people who give money to candidates. It is very easy for the average voter to donate to the pol of his choice. And if enough of them feel strongly enough to give their money to a political candidate, wouldn't that reflect the popularity of the candidate? Or, if popularity is the wrong word, the desirability of the candidate for the majority?

Maybe someone could do a study comparing campaign money raised with the subsequent vote and see if they correspond in any way. I suspect that campaign fundraising is significantly different in the internet age than it was in the 1990's.

Eric said...

What's the U6 unemployment rate for all of those young people who voted for Obama last time? 50% or so?

The one bright spot in the last four years has been the people who were the most enthusiastic Obama supporters are paying the heaviest price for his handling of the economy. They're going to pay even more when the bills come due for the stimulus and Obamacare, though they're not bright enough to realize it yet.

Nichevo said...

C4, if that argument was really solid then Romney would have a chance with the Massholes in November, eh? How do you think he'll do there? Think he breaks 40%? Me neither.

Kchiker said...

If you believe Romney is favored, there is a LOT of money to be made on Intrade....where you can almost triple your investment.

Gahrie said...

Don't expect things to get much better. "But at least he's not Obama!" Yeah, great campaign slogan.

Maybe not, but it should be all that is needed.....

Eric said...

Don't expect things to get much better. "But at least he's not Obama!" Yeah, great campaign slogan.

Ironic, isn't it, when Obama ran against Bush in 2008.

Peter Hoh said...

Mark: Reason 5 to believe Obama's in trouble: Democrats in tight races don't want to be in the same ZIP code with the man.

I'm willing to bet that Romney isn't going to be making a lot of personal appearances with Republicans in tight races, either.

It's 2004 all over again. The president is vulnerable, but the opposition party has chosen a candidate with poor political instincts and an even weaker ability to connect with people.

Kerry was the guy the Democrats should have run in 2000. Romney is the guy the Republicans should have run in 2008.

gk1 said...

If I could ask the Obama crew one question it would be "Why so strident and desperate? Are you purposely trying to sink every struggling candidate in all the red states you need to keep your majority?" This is Hitler in the bunker strength scorched earth campaign. Granted obama has had rocky relations with the republican's but should obama survive does he really think anyone on the republican side will want to work with him?

Fen said...

Romney needs to talk about the economy and how Obama has made it worse.

Carnifex said...

I think 2 things have slipped everyones memory.

1) Zero always campaigns dirty. Look at his history. He has never won a race without massive amounts of mud slinging at his opponents. The dirt being flung at Romney right now is not desperstion, it is par for Zero's coarse(or in honor of the greatest speachafying president ever, corpse)

2) The press being in the tank for Zero so much that they resemble guppies. Any lie, no matter how stupid, will be repeated for at least a week, every time a democrat spouts one. At the same time, theyill be covering Zero's ass everytime he lets his commie dictator mask slip. Like they did with "You didn't build that" How many newspaper articles and spots on TV was given over to the douches trying to tell us what Zero "really" meant, not what we heard.

And add in shill like Shiloh, Garage, and AP, and you have a massive media machine.

The polls are skewed, but until we get someone in the Senate with the guts to call Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, AND Zero, the fucking liars that lie that thtey are, they are going to continue to dominate the MSM.

What we personaly believe doesn't mean dick to the outcome.

Ps.

Those of you hoping a R congress will step up and stop this dictator, WHY WOULD THEY START THEN? They've sat on their asses for 3 1/2 years and just kept taking bites of the shit sandwich Zero made for them. Have you heard even one of them say anything about Zero gutting the welfare regulations? You do realize that the regulations make it against the law to gut them because as soon as D's got control they would. No! They haven't done a fucking thing, and they won't because they are PUSSYS!

Carnifex said...

dammit Course not coarse (I am starting to think I had a stroke during my medical emergency, I can't type or spell worth a damn anymore)

Michael K said...

"
Those of you hoping a R congress will step up and stop this dictator, WHY WOULD THEY START THEN? They've sat on their asses for 3 1/2 years and just kept taking bites of the shit sandwich Zero made for them."

Ask Darrell Issa. Wait until the Senate flips. There are going to be some people in the gray bar hotel. Like the Cutter bitch.

Michael K said...

"Maybe someone could do a study comparing campaign money raised with the subsequent vote and see if they correspond in any way."

Maybe you should do your survey in Gaza and see if they are satisfied that their money bought influence.

Revenant said...

Reason #5: the Bradley effect.

Jim Norris said...

"Yet, I never believed Americans would be so stupid as to vote for the least experienced man ever nominated for the presidency by a major political party, but they did."

And you still bother to read and comment on her blog. Hmmm.

donald said...

Better yet Nathan garage completely disappeared once he realized what was fpnna happen during the recall. It remains one of the biggest bitch pussy disappearances by an Internet tough guy ever.

DEEBEE said...

WHining is the national athem for all the quiche and white wine types