McCain Spending His Way To A Tie In Michigan

[JimGinPA]

The stumbling McCain campaign it appears has been managing to lose a race against no one in a critical general election state, despite spending more than $500,000 per week since May 28th on TV ads there. The presumptive Republican nominee has had months to campaign without formal opposition in Michigan, a state he desperately hopes he can win, because Barack Obama has only recently returned after a ten-month forced absence courtesy the DNC. Despite the glaring discrepancy, three recent polls find the candidates deadlocked in the state -- further evidence that the McCain campaign fumbled critical campaigning and fundraising opportunities during the four-month Clinton and Obama slugfest and is now spending furiously to make up lost ground.

According to the Detroit Free Press, two Michigan polls taken in the past month put McCain up by four percentage points, within the margin of error. A third poll, released on Monday, shows Obama leading by three-points. Although Michigan has gone Democratic in every presidential contest since 1988, Republicans see a rare opportunity to clinch the state's 17 electoral votes in November; but the McCain camp should hardly be pleased with its performance.

McCain's recent Michigan "air" campaign consists of two statewide TV ads per week, an ad buy that's belly socking the already wheezing campaign. The $500,000 figure were provided by Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. Barack Obama, by contrast, has yet to air a single statewide TV ad there -- or to air general election ads in any other state for that matter.

Not bad for a candidate running competitively within the margin of error in the three most recent statewide polls. Obama's new-style distributed small-donor fundraising machine is shaping up to be a model for future campaigns, but that machinery may be all the more powerful for being balanced against equally impressive carefully weighed spending.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-treul/mccain-spending-his-way-t_b_106883.html

[speedoo]

1. Even for the McCain campaign, this is idiotic.

Do these guys have any clue how to win a national election?

Seems like they want to lose in a landslide.

[4themind]

2. Seems like they're using the strategy dem's have used

in "losing"(close enough to steal) years.

[TahitiNut]

3. Yep. We've been seeing his TV ads for a couple of weeks

They're execrable.

[4_Legs_Good]

4. He will only win Michigan with Romney

Which is something to be concerned about, but if he chooses Romney he runs the risk of being much more vulnerable in the south.

I still think Romney is his best choice, but, I also think that nobody is going to save him.

David

[speedoo]

5. Willard is George Romney's son. And he grew up in Michigan.

Is there anything else about Willard that would help McCain in Michigan, if Romney is the VP pick?

If there isn't, I don't see a big plus for McCain.

[last1standing]

6. Romney isn't nearly as popular here as people seem to think.

Mitten's dad was a decent governor in the '60s but that was a long time ago. People here know that the Romney kids left this state to hang years ago and we, in turn, have forgotten about them.

I know Romne won MI in the primary but I'd guess a full 20% of his votes came from Dems who wanted to hurt McCain. We did the same to bush* in 2000 by voting for McCain as a way to keep the primary season going and to embarrass our asshole governor, Engler. :D

[speedoo]

7. Thanks for confirming my thinking on Romney. nt

[Romulox]

10. There is a massive East/West division in Michigan. Romney seems popular in GR

while nobody would cross the street to see him here in Wayne County.

[pansypoo53219]

8. mcinsain ads here in milw.

maybe that's why his poll #s are going down.

[Romulox]

9. I think people outside of Michigan are dangerously misreading the tea leaves here...

McCain tied with Obama in the state with the worst economy in the nation is not good news!!!

Moreover, there has been no "10 month forced absence" from Michigan--that is made up out of whole cloth. Barack Obama needs to do something big to ensure a win in Michigan, before it is too late. :scared:

[chieftain]

11. Absent an Obama landslide, Michigan is this year's Ohio.

If we hold it, there are so many realistic combinations that we should win. If it goes GOP, Obama will have to pull a couple of traditional red or swing states into our column. You are right Barack needs to get on the ground there asap.

[Romulox]

12. He's got his first visit to DETROIT in 2008 coming up on Monday.

I'm hoping he focuses his comments almost exclusively on the economy. And I hope that Mayor Kilpatrick has the good grace to make himself absent!