Why has the race tightened up?  I think it is a combination of three factors.

1.  The Republican base is coming home to McCain.  Of course if he picks a pro-choice VP, then he will put this group into a lather which will like cost him a point or two in the polls, but probably less, when all is said in done in the voting booth.  Its one thing to tell a pollster you haven't made up your mind because you are pissed off, its another to not vote at all, or, gasp, vote for the all pro-choice ticket.

2.  The attack ads have had a modest effect on Obama, by playing to the meme of "otherness."  This has lead some independents who were earlier saying they would vote for Obama (based largely on general anti-Republicanism) to slip back to "I haven't made up my mind" when polled.

3.  The whole VP dance, and "putting her name in nomination or not" dance has served to reopen the barely scabbed wounds of the really angry part of Hillary's support.  Let's call it about 20% of her primary season voters.  When the pollsters call these women (my assumption is that is mostly women) they are too angry to say that they will vote for Obama.  And McCain's flirting with a pro-choice VP, gives them a little cover, as they toy with the idea of violating every core principle they have, out of anger.  But again, it is hard to imagine that in November, with a pro-choice, progressive ticket within smelling distance of the White House, that they will stay home, or vote McCain.

So..  If I were McCain, I would shoot for the independents, reclaim my maverick brand, and pick Tom Ridge, let the base chips fall as they may.  But, I don't think he will do that.  He will pick a safer VP, who is anti-choice, firm up his base, but also further dilute his "maverick" brand, and look like just another Republican in a year when the Republican brand is toxic.

If Obama picks a women VP, the Hillary really angry group will come home to him sooner than if he picks a white male, but either way, when it comes time to vote, that group will sigh deeply about how close they came to electing one of their own President, and vote for Obama.  Indeed, they may well deny it to pollsters right up to the moment in the voting booth, but when the actual votes are counted, I bet more than two-thirds of that group comes home to Obama.  

I would be utterly confounded, confused, upset, hopeless and most of all, hurting like hell. Even though I'm not a Democrat, I still feel all of these particular emotions. It feels as if the end of the world is coming and there is not a thing I can do about it, and unfortunately, nobody seems to care, especially the Democrats.

I can't help but be the eternal optimist. Somehow, someway, we are all going to understand what's happening to this country and we will demand that the corporate politicians and the corporate media stop this march towards fascism and imperialism, and give this nation back to its people. There are some that believe in a second coming of a political messiah that will right all the wrongs and make the government represent the people. This is a pipedream. There is no single person, no political party and no movement that can, or will, do this. We must do it ourselves if we want to see it done.

The Democrats are wondering why their candidate's numbers are slowly circling the drain. How stupid is that? Could it be that the man chosen by the mainstream corporate media and the corporate political party is behaving like a corporatist? This entire drama between the two political parties has got to be the most expensive con job that this world has ever seen. Barack Obama is either incredibly naive, or the worst straw man that has ever appeared on the American political scene. If there was any chance in hell of America voting in a Republican after two terms of George W. Bush, the Democrats have found that chance in the hell that is the neo-con theories of war and corporate rape of America.

I was thinking about two comments I read one was yesterday  and the other was I think at least a month ago.

This isn't a quote so please forgive me but basically she said Clinton as VP might not be the best use of her talents. When I read this I was a bit surprised but didn't think about it enough.

Then another commentator said something similar which made me start to really think about it and ask myself some questions.

Let me be clear from both comments I gathered that both thought
Clinton would make an excellent VP but it wouldn't be the spot they would choose for her.

Since Senator Clinton ended her run I have convinced myself that there isn't anyone who can help Obama more than Clinton and that goes for Gore too. So from this point of view I haven't changed my mind as to wanting CLINTON in fact I want her MORE as each day passes.

But I do think it's important to ask

Would Clinton be restricted by being VP? In the past the VP job wasn't too exciting but then came Cheney.

If Clinton became Vice President this would be historic.Is this more important than passing laws that would change people's
lives?

If you supported Clinton for President is it possible that you wouldn't choose her as VP because she would be more useful in another position?

What would that position be?  In charge of universal health care?

What are Vice President Clinton's chances of winning the Presidency after eight years?

listening to Bill Press, an older less aggressive democratic pundit says  "we should see an ad today on McCain not knowing how many houses he owns".

McCain's campaign says they only own 4 which is demostrably false.  He may only be able to spend time in four, but newsweek estimated 7 while other sources say 10.

http://www.mccainvminnesota.com/cribs.ht ml

Rachel Maddow says 9.  Of course when you own that many houses it's hard to keep track of paying taxes for all of them.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143775/

When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona.

Successful national campaigns for the presidency combine extremely effective media--no matter how loathsome and low road it might be--with outstanding ground efforts.  And, since the GOP is the only party I know of that's won a national election in this country in the past 11-1/2 years, I am referring to the GOP'ers penchant for putting the two major pieces of this winning strategy together more effectively than us Dems during this era, as well.

With the Rethugs, winning is the only thing. With the Dems over the last few years...not so much...'cept maybe for the Clintons.

This year, Karl Rove is screwing around with the voting public's psyche in innovative ways we won't even begin to understand until after the Election's over. Hopefully, this diary helps shed a little light on their latest Orwellian mindf**k.

The clearest indication I have seen to prove that voting for McCain is the equivalent of voting for a third Bush administration is this video from the Larry King Show in 2001 that The Jed Report has put out on the web:

If this is how McCain thinks, then his judgment is certainly questionable.

We know McCain's solution to the Georgia/Russia situation is to threaten military action; we know that McCain is in favor of military action on Iran; we know that McCain was ready to go to war with Iraq before George Bush did after 9/11 (Richard Clarke, at that time the White House's adviser, has confirmed that in recent comments). That he could keep us in a military involvement for "100 years" in Iraq is a stated fact.

McCain's campaign stresses his foreign policy experience, yet I question whether he has learned anything from America's foreign policy during the time of his service in Congress. We know he could visit Iraq and then report that Petraeus can travel through Baghdad in an unarmored vehicle (not true, of course); We know he confused the Iranians with Al Qu'ida; we know he has publicly made misstatement after misstatement on television and at his "town hall" staged events without being seriously called on them my the mass media. Indeed, if not for the progressive blogosphere he would not be called on these things to any great degree by anyone.

It has been noted on some blogs within the last few days that Obama is becoming more aggressive, and that is a good thing. Politeness and respect toward a POW and fellow Senator has not paid off, and McCain, who once claimed to be running a campaign based on integrity and discussion of the issues, has based his recent efforts on lies and racial insinuations, soft-couched in the repeated phrase "my friends"(which now makes my stomach curdle when I hear it!).

Now we approach the conventions and the final months of the campaign and the race is a tight one. It shouldn't be. We should be sitting here billions of dollars in debt with at least two wars going on and with housing starts at an all-time low and unemployment at an all-time high, eager to elect an exciting, honest, and experienced young executive (judging from CNN's biography of Obama's Chicago experience broadcast last night) to the post of President of the United States.

And we should clearly reject McCain for the most obvious of reasons: he's just not worth it.

Under The LobsterScope

A very nice article by David Gergen today.

He says basically that Obama needs some serious sparks in his campaign, and I have to agree with all three of his suggested options...

1) Pick HRC as VP.

or

2) Pick Gore as VP.

or

3) Name your cabinet already, attaching trusted voices to your campaign.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/20/ob ama-in-need-of-a-game-changer/

- Matt

Today the press is full of stories concerning Obama's falling polling numbers.  The right wing outlets are having a great time blasting our candidate for his 'failures' as a politician.  However here at MYDD we seem to be content to let them run with it with little or no objection from us.  I perused the diaries this morning and don't see even one diary concerning our next play in countering this propaganda.  It seems as if we're content to simply stick our heads in the sand and hope that them bad mens go way!

This is not the way to win, folks.  This is not the way to get Obama elected.