Obama Has the Edge After First Debate
Even though the American mainstream media pronounced Friday's presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain a draw, the UK's Guardian newspaper tallied up some poll results and found that Obama has gained an edge over McCain as the candidates head into their final month of campaigning.
Even though the American mainstream media pronounced Friday’s presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain a draw, the UK’s Guardian newspaper tallied up some poll results and found that Obama has gained an edge over McCain as the candidates head into their final month of campaigning.
Wait, before you go…The Guardian:
Barack Obama is opening a clear lead over John McCain after polls at the weekend showed the public overwhelmingly awarding Friday night’s presidential debate to the Democratic candidate.
[…] With five weeks until the presidential election, Obama appears to have broken the impasse that had seen the two in a dead heat in polls over the past month.
A USA Today poll, published yesterday [Monday], showed 45% of those questioned felt Obama had done better in the debate than McCain, who registered 34%. The public view is at odds with the media, which overwhelmingly judged it to be a draw.
Other polls, including the Rasmussen tracking poll, showed voters drifting towards Obama. The Rasmussen poll put Obama on 50% and McCain on 44%, which would give the Democratic candidate a landslide victory.
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Those who prize civility over frank talk or success in politics may be disheartened to learn that attack ads of the type President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have begun to fling at each other are as old as the republic itself, and as New York magazine columnist Frank Rich says, they’re absolutely essential for effective politics.
Newt Gingrich has made it clear that if he can't be president, he's going to try to take Mitt Romney down with him. But the former House speaker’s endless stream of attack ads could, perversely, end up strengthening the "Massachusetts Moderate," who seems likely to survive the onslaught.The former House speaker’s endless stream of attack ads could, perversely, end up strengthening the "Massachusetts Moderate," who seems likely to survive the onslaught.
Joe Klein points out that the newfound anonymity of attack ads, made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which allows faceless money conglomerates to run ads on a candidate's behalf without the usual "I approved this message," makes for much "more effective and brutal" adverts.
Observers credit a spate of attack ads for Newt Gingrich’s recent tumble -- and Mitt Romney’s rise -- in Iowa polls ahead of the state’s Republican caucus. But where did they come from? Not Romney’s campaign, but rather a PAC staffed by former Romney insiders and empowered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling to spend as much as it likes to destroy his opponents.
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