Sarah Palin, Queen of Earmarks

From The American Prospect:

Sen. McCain has made a major cause out of fighting earmarks. He famously opposed the spending of $1 million (0.00003 percent of the federal budget) to pay for a Woodstock museum. But McCain's staunch opposition to earmarks makes his selection of Gov. Palin as his running mate somewhat of a surprise.

According to a Washington Post article, Gov. Palin was somewhat of an earmark queen as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla, Alaska. The article reports that she hired a lobbyist who managed to secure $27 million in federal funds for Wasilla (the cost of 27 Woodstock museums) in her four years as mayor. Her list of pet projects included $450,000 in federal dollars for an agricultural processing center, $500,000 for a community transit center, and $1 million for an emergency communications center -- all of which McCain listed over the years in his annual "pork lists."

With a population of 6,700 this comes to more than $4,000 per person, or $1,000 per person for each of the four years that she was mayor. Now that is real money. If every mayor in America were as successful as Gov. Palin in securing earmarks, the tab would come to $300 billion a year, or 10 percent of the budget. Now that would be something to get upset about.

Sarah Barracuda

Palin’s speech was good. It was very good.

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The ability to attack ruthlessly while coming off as being likeable – that is a rare talent. (Biden, actually, is known for this as well.)

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You have to wonder why Palin keeps repeating that she said no to the Bridge to Nowhere. One has to wonder why she explicitly mentions that she is against earmarks. Both of these can be contradicted factually.

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Obama and Biden need to act quickly before the narrative sets in that Palin is a pork-hating reformer. Once the impression sets in, it is much harder to modify. (See Maverick.)

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Palin brings together the disparate coalitions that make up the GOP base and excites them in ways McCain couldn’t.

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Religion and abortion were largely left out of the speech but then again, Palin didn’t need to mention these. The religious conservatives already know she’s one of them.

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Throwing red meat to a partisan crowd is great. The Republicans should also count on an equal (?) and opposite reaction amongst the Democratic base.

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There are more self-identified Democrats than Republicans currently. There is no arguing that the Republicans need their base energized and united, but they also need a larger share of the independents and Democrats if they are to win.

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Obama and Biden should waste no time in highlighting some of the extreme position Palin holds. No abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.

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There are other extreme positions that Palin has espoused, including teaching creationism in schools. But banning abortions sans exceptions for rape and incest -- this is much more effective on moderates, even those that might be ambivalent about abortions.

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Obama needs to send out women and men from smaller states and rural areas as surrogates. Charges of sexism and elitism do not need to distract from the Democrats’ actual arguments.

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Going back to the second point – facts. It’s a sad reflection of the state of our political discourse where facts are dispensable and the politics of personality so much more prevalent.

Anita Dunn

Anita Dunn is a senior advisor to Barack Obama and someone I’d be very scared to cross.

Here’s Anita Dunn on Lieberman:

Let's dispose of Senator Lieberman first, because the fact of the matter is what he said is not true and he knows it is not true, so it's kind of the continued moral degeneration of Joe Lieberman on display for the entire country to watch.*


And Dunn on Mitt Romney’s swipe at Michelle Obama:

Barack Obama has said that families are ‘off-limits’, and we thought that John McCain agreed. But tonight, John McCain’s handpicked attack dog, Mitt Romney, exposed the fake outrage that the Republicans have been peddling all week as the blatant hypocrisy that it is. The McCain team’s disgusting attack on Barack Obama's wife shows they would rather generate false outrage to distract from their own problems than talk about the issues facing the American people. Mitt Romney’s attack on a candidate’s wife is as pathetic as his failed presidential campaign.*

And there there’s this video. The second part of the clip focuses on McCain and Palin.



Video source: McCombover

*Emphasis added

The New Palin Ad

McCain’s new ad is an attempt to deflect criticism of Palin’s record and inexperience, and to regain control of the media narrative on Palin. And this is the best they could come up with? If you keep repeating “reform” does it stick in the viewer’s head? McCain better hope so because the ad seems disjointed and almost as hastily thrown together as Palin’s vetting process.

Return of the Maverick?

The Palin pick could be a stroke of pure brilliance for McCain. Throughout the primaries and even after them, McCain’s had a hard time energizing his base. And with the base restless, McCain couldn’t afford to court independents and moderates. Now with his base (generally) excited and enthused about Palin, will the “Maverick” return? Lieberman’s primetime speaking role at the RNC could be the opening act, soon to be followed by McCain’s gradual move back towards the center. If only those pesky reporters would stop harping on Palin’s inexperience and all that other stuff…

The Same

This is a much better ad from the Obama camp. I like the "questionable ties" reference and the image that accompanies it.

Expensive Plans

John McCain's new ad titled "Expensive Plans" reinforces previous attacks about Obama being a tax-and-spend liberal. The new tactic in this ad is to try and link Obama to Congressional Democrats. The McCain camp is hoping that the historically low approval rates for the Congress will hurt Obama. I think the case falls flat on a couple of fronts -- John McCain has been in the Senate way longer than Obama so he isn't exactly immune to the low approval ratings. Secondly, the voters do not seem to blame the Democrats for the gridlock in the D.C. In generic ballots Democrats outperform the Republicans by large margins. The ad itself isn't as good as some of the previous ones. What's with featuring Senate Democrats like Dodd, Reid, Leahy, and Schumer in the ad? Do most people even recognize these guys?

Sarah So Far

Sarah Palin is that surprise pick that keeps providing, well, surprises. You can get a summary of the controversies here.

On the other hand, Palin has had at least three positive effects on the McCain campaign.

• McCain and Palin attracted their biggest crowd so far (17,000) at a rally in MO.
• McCain raised $7 million in a single day after he picked Palin
• Palin has dominated news coverage. The coverage is not all favorable, but for a campaign that has complained of being neglected by the media, perhaps it's better than no publicity at all.

Palin

Initial thoughts:

• Definitely a surprise
• Unknown nationally, but a female candidate and the surprise element make the pick exciting in the short term
• After hitting Obama on inexperience, this is hypocritical to say the least
• It will be interesting to see how this choice affects the gender gap in the general election
• This pick will steal the headlines from Obama
• Last but not least, a not-so-subtle hit at Obama for not picking Hillary?

Simply Schweitzer

Via Stateline.org:

“That’s the dangest thing I’ve ever heard,” Schweitzer said during a roundtable with reporters at the Democratic National Convention. “In the West, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting and some son of a seahorse snapdragon downstream says they are going to steal your water, it’s time to reach for your rifle.”

- Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer on McCain's plan to renegotiate 1922 Colorado Water compact

GOP Push-Back on McCain's Houses

Myth of a Maverick

Four years late, but Sen. John Kerry gave a great speech last night. It's a little slow going at first but he picks up the tempo as the speech progresses. My favorite piece:

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you’re against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same “Rove” tactics and the same “Rove” staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

Ridiculous

Via Political Wire:

"The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American -- even illegal aliens -- as uninsured... So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

-- John Goodman, a health care adviser to Sen. John McCain, quoted by the Dallas Morning News.

Quicker

Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) uses his first ad to emphasize his youth and vigor. I don’t know if this was intentional or even something he considered, but it sure does create a stark contrast with McCain.

Must See TV

Under the Radar

I wrote about Local Hits early last week.

First Read and Campaign Diaries seem to agree.

First Read:

Obama’s stealth ad campaign: Over the past week, we've gotten our hands on a number of negative TV ads Obama's been running against McCain in key states like Ohio and Michigan. This is in addition to the tough spot, uncovered by Politico [*** UPDATE *** Actually the spot was uncovered by the Washington Times' Christina Bellantoni, who reported on it yesterday and was linked to by Politico] , that Obama's airing in Indiana. Clearly, the Obama campaign isn't interested in telling the media about every single McCain attack ad they’re running. Perhaps this is because Obama's brand can't afford to be tarnished too much if he's seen as constantly running negative TV ads. So the campaign simply puts them on the air in key markets, doesn't tell the press about them, and layers those ads with positive ones being run nationally during the Olympics. Also, by not releasing to the media, it forces the McCain camp to wait a day or two before they see the ad. McCain's camp is much more comfortable unveiling their negative ads, perhaps because they want the free press that comes with them. But make no mistake, Obama’s running plenty of negative TV ads, particularly in the industrial Midwestern states. In fact, one of Obama's biggest candidate strengths -- which doesn't get the attention it deserves -- is that he plays political hardball as well as his opponents; he just sometimes does it under the radar.

Campaign Diaries:

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Obama campaign’s positive ads at the national level are being complemented with some harsh state-level attack ads. This, of course, raises an interesting question: which negative strategy is the most effective? McCain’s attempts to globally reinforce the theme of Obama lacking substance, or Obama finding local issues with which McCain can be tarnished (Harleys in Wisconsin, Yucca Mountain in Nevada, DHL in Ohio)?

Copy Cat?

Last week there was the brouhaha about parts of McCain’s speech on Georgia being lifted from Wikipedia. Here’s the coverage on that story.

Now, there are suggestions that an anecdote from his POW days is lifted from Russian writer Solzhenitsyn.

McCain on Iraq

H/T: Blue Mass Group

Funny

Via Political Wire:

"The Greek tragedy aspect of this election could turn out to be, George Bush defeats John McCain twice."

-- Former McCain strategist John Weaver, quoted by Texas Monthly.

Local Hits

Sen. McCain’s volley of negative ads has some Democrats worried that Obama is about to be swift-boated. The Obama camp has certainly responded with ads of its own, but the general impression remains that the Obama ads are mostly positive. Perhaps, there is a method to the Obama madness. By running positive ads nationally, Obama can maintain his image as a politician that is above politics as usual and allow the national media to craft a narrative that supports and feeds this impression.

In the meantime, Obama hits McCain hard on the campaign trail, where his attacks will most likely get coverage in the local media. It’s a strategy that worked for Obama in the primaries. Supplementing the verbal attacks on the campaign trail is a recently emerging pattern of localized media attacks on McCain. Obama’s ad in Nevada hits McCain on the Yucca Mountain issue. His radio ad in Ohio goes after McCain’s DHL connection and his latest ad in Wisconsin attacks McCain’s opposition to “buy American” rules.

In the general election where a handful of swing states will determine the outcome of the race, this localized strategy may just prove to be the most effective one.

* Harley-Davidson is based in Wisconsin but also has plants in York, PA and Kansas City, MO. McCain happens to have a campaign stop scheduled in York, PA.