A new SurveyUSA poll shows Sen. John McCain leads Sen. Barack Obama, 49% to 44%, among respondents who were asked "if you were placing a bet today" who do you think will be elected president?
The Republican convention has given
Sen. John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA Today/Gallup Poll
taken over the weekend shows, as McCain now leads Sen. Barack Obama, 50% to 46% among registered voters.
Among likely voters, McCain leads Obama, 54% to 44%.
However, McCain's ties to President Bush "remains a vulnerability. In the poll, 63% say
they are concerned he would pursue policies too similar to those of the
current president. Bush's approval rating is 33%."
Under increasing pressure to do a media interview, the McCain campaign announced that Gov. Sarah Palin will meet with ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson later this week in Anchorage.
It will be Palin's first interview since being named to the Republican ticket.
Earlier in the day, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told Fox News that Palin would not subject herself to any tough questions from reporters
"until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and
deference."
The latest Gallup tracking poll shows Sen. John McCain moving ahead of Sen. Barack Obama, 48% to 45%.
The results "include two full days of polling after the conclusion of the Republican
National Convention last Thursday night. McCain has outpolled Obama on
both Friday and Saturday, and is receiving a convention bounce just as Obama did last week."
"Well, look. You know, I actually knew that Russia was next to Alaska, as well. I saw it on a map."
-- Sen. Barack Obama, in an interview on This Week, mocking the McCain campaign's suggestion that Alaska's proximity to Russia gives Gov. Sarah Palin foreign-policy credentials.
Sen. Joe Biden accused the McCain campaign of sequestering Gov. Sarah Palin "and challenged her Sunday to sit for network interviews," according to Politico.
Said Biden: "She's a smart, tough politician. So I think she's going to be formidable. Eventually, she's going to have to sit in front of you like I'm doing and have done. Eventually, she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered. Eventually, she's going to have to answer on the record."
Meanwhile, in an interview on This Week, Sen. Barack Obama suggested Palin was not qualified for the job.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), "whose feisty speech in Denver was one of the rhetorical highlights of the Democratic National Convention, will be the headline speaker at U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin's annual steak fry," the Chicago Tribune reports.
"Harkin's annual event, scheduled for Sept. 14, is one of the largest political gatherings of the year, drawing thousands of people to fields just south of Des Moines. Past speakers have included President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and the event traditionally draws presidential candidates in droves during precinct caucus cycles."
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is "very much on track toward its goal of signing up 150,000 new voters" in Virginia "by the early October voter registration deadline, on top of the 142,000 new voters who registered during primary season," according to the Washington Post.
"There is no way of knowing how many of the newly registered will vote for Obama, especially since Virginia does not record voters by party affiliation. But the campaign is encouraged by the demographic profile of the new voters -- about 40 percent of those who registered in August are aged 25 or under."
Robert Novak: "I thought 51 years of rough-and-tumble journalism in Washington had
made me more enemies than friends, but my recent experience suggests
the opposite may be the case."
John Edwards "has canceled all his
public appearances before Election Day, saying that he didn't want to
distract from Barack Obama's campaign," according to The Hill.
Edwards had committed to at least three university events. He
hasn't made any public appearances since admitting to an extramarital
affair last month.
"I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She
may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has
any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument
about the attributes she lacks. It's an argument about the information
we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more
and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political
leader. That's all."
Sen. Barack Obama "made his first direct criticism of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday, saying she pretends to oppose spending earmarks when she actually has embraced them," the AP reports.
Said Obama: "Don't be fooled... I know the governor of Alaska has been saying she's change, and that's great. She's a skillful politician. But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up."
The latest Gallup tracking poll shows Sen. Barack Obama's advantage over Sen. John McCain "has been shrinking since the start
of the Republican National Convention, and is now down to just two
percentage points -- 47% to 45% -- too close to call."
Clearly, McCain is enjoying a bounce out of the GOP convention as he closes the gap with Obama. Today's numbers include polling done from Wednesday through Friday of last week; the Sunday and Monday numbers will include the full impact of McCain's acceptance speech. It should be interesting.
Nate Silver previews the next few days: "Last night and tonight should be among the best
individual nights of polling that the Republicans see all year. If the
best they can do is close the race to a tie, or an Obama +1 on those
nights, they are not going to win the race based on inertia alone."
In a must-read New York Times Magazine piece, former Bush speechwriter David Frum sounds the sirens for the Republican party.
"My fellow conservatives and Republicans have tended not to worry
very much about the widening of income inequalities. As long as there
exists equality of opportunity -- as long as everybody's income is
rising -- who cares if some people get rich faster than others?
Societies that try too hard to enforce equality deny important freedoms
and inhibit wealth-creating enterprise. Individuals who worry overmuch
about inequality can succumb to life-distorting envy and resentment."
"All true! But something else is true, too: As America becomes more
unequal, it also becomes less Republican. The trends we have dismissed
are ending by devouring us."
Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain released a joint statement today:
"On September 11, 2008, we will join together to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero."
"All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans - but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils - we were united as one American family. On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honor the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones. We will also give thanks for the firefighters, police, and emergency responders who set a heroic example of selfless service, and for the men and women who serve today in defense of the freedom and security that came under attack in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania."
Contrary to speculation yesterday, Sen. Hillary Clinton "has no intention of becoming a Sarah Palin attack dog -- but has no qualms going after John McCain," according to Politico.
Said one Clinton insider: "She's not the answer when it comes to winning conservative women -- she never was -- and we're not going to be anybody's attack dog against Sarah Palin. To be fair to Obama's people, they haven't asked us to do that."
At a fundraiser hosted by singer Jon Bon Jovi last night, Sen. Barack Obama "vowed to fight Republican attacks on his character and background more fiercely than John Kerry did in his losing campaign four years ago," the Newark Star Ledger reports.
Said Obama: "We're not going to be bullied, we're not going to be smeared, we're not going to be lied about. I don't believe in coming in second."
When Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) returns to work this week, "he can expect some arm-twisting from his Republican friends and the cold shoulder from some Democrats" for giving a speech at the Republican convention, CQ Politics reports.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), said he "intended to try to pry Lieberman from the Democratic fold, beginning with Monday's cloture vote on a motion to proceed to the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill."
Said Specter: "I would like to see him vote with Republicans in September. He's practically there. That would have the consequence of giving us a Republican Senate."
The first Gallup tracking poll with a full day of interviewing included from after Gov. Sarah Palin's convention speech shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain by four points, 48% to 44%.
A senior McCain campaign official tells Marc Ambinder that, "despite the gaggle of
requests and pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin won't submit to
a formal interview anytime soon. She may take some questions from local
news entities in Alaska, but until she's ready -- and until she's
comfortable -- which might not be for a long while -- the media will
have to wait."
According to TV Week, preliminary Nielsen numbers show that Sen. John McCain's acceptance speech last night drew more viewers than Sen. Barack Obama had a week earlier.
"Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain's speech ended
the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama's 4.3/7
average, according to overnight numbers from metered households in 55
U.S. markets measured by Nielsen. These ratings are preliminary,
however, and are subject to change."
Update: Nielsen just released the final numbers: 38.9 million people watched McCain while 38.4 million watched Obama.
"No. But that's because they don't have any money. They just don't."
-- Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gilmore (R), when asked by the Wall Street Journal if he's had any support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee or any other Republican organizations.
First Read: "The number to look for in the polls isn't the head-to-head; it'll be
whether the percentage of voters who believe McCain will follow Bush's
policies closely has actually dropped."
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