There's no question that McCain's ads are working;

Wait.

Your hypothesis is that McCain's "scary," "dark" Olympic ad buy is more effective than Obama's "cheerful," "positive" Olympic ads, but your sole piece of 'objective' evidence is an August 6th article about polls conducted August 1-5? You are aware that the Olympics and the accompanying ads that you're discussing, didn't start until August 8th, aren't you?

And your only supporting statement is that of a Republican strategist? While the MSNBC blog might state that McCain's ads "stuck out" from the other Olympic ads, most of the people I've spoken to have characterized them as "jarring" and "disturbingly morose."

Perhaps some recent polling data (which, incidentally, shows that Obama's margin is growing, while McCain's support has plateaued) would show whether or not the McCain strategy is working or not. Guesses, old data and partisan analysts don't cut it, though.

Maybe Obama should get Freeman to narrate his commercials.

Since he's still recovering from the car accident, I'd suggest Tom Kane, who does a lot of the "Morgan Freeman" ADR work, such as the narration for the Wanted trailer: http://www.tomkane.com/section.php?id=0

I agree that the VISA ads are a little too much -- not as moving or memorable as Kodak's True Colors campaign and I hardly even remember that they're VISA ads (isn't that the point of an advertisement, in the first place).

@Dale:

I was thinking exactly the same thing when MSNBC and CNBC were showing hours of informercials over the weekend, during prime-time daytime. Granted, it was the middle of the night in China, but you can't tell me that they couldn't run interesting, low-featured events on tape delay.

Dan. Quayle. Revisited.

McSame's odd choice will bite him in the ass, as soon as Stevens' trial begins and the massive corruption of the Alaska GOP (and the collusion with Big Oil) gets the national spotlight.

And her hyper-pro-life position will soon tarnish any appeal that she has with PUMA-types.

Why not Sarah Palin?

To paraphrase Jeb Bartlet, "because he might die."

Yeah, she is pretty clean...

except for that little abuse of power wherein she ordered her Superintendent of Public Safety to fire a state trooper, who just happened to be her former brother-in-law, who just happened to be in a nasty custody dispute with her sister.

And when her Chief of Public Safety told her he would not, in the course of his duties, fire a trooper solely for the sake of personal retribution, she fired Alaska's most senior Law Enforcement officer.

Yeah, that's squeaky clean... [/sarcasm]

...was invoking Hillary Clinton in her introductory speech.

This:

• Highlights the cheap political ploy that influenced the McCain campaign's choice
• Invites Hillary into the fray, to blast Palin for invoking her candidacy, nail her on inexperience and pound her on her out-of-the-mainstream über-conservative social stances

It's a little-known fact that Alaskans get paid simply for living in Alaska and drawing breath for a year.

Last year, each and every Alaskan earned $1,654 simply for being an Alaskan. How important is this oil revenue welfare to Alaskans? Frank Murkowski's choice to reduce the dividend in order to cover budget shortfalls cost him the primary re-election to Palin. (It wasn't the rampant corruption, or his appointment of his daughter to his Senate seat.)

According to the IHT:

The state established the Alaska Permanent Fund in 1976 after North Slope oil was discovered. Dividends have been paid since 1982, ranging from $331 to a record high of $1,963 in 2000. [2006]'s dividend check was $1,106.

More than $15.2 billion (€10.88 billion) has been distributed to eligible residents since the dividend program began, five years after oil began flowing in the state's pipeline [31] years ago.

If a resident has received a check every year since the first was issued in 1982, their total take in the program would be $27,536.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/20/business/NA-FIN-US-Alaska-Dividend.php

I'd like someone to show her what it feels like when the schuh's on the other fuß:

With a name like 'Bauer', she's probably beholden to the Kaiser -- a spy for the Jerries, sent to sabotage the shipyards in Philadelphia.

She's a kraut infiltrator, she pretends to be an American, and she isn't, she's an Aryan.

You know how I know you work for the McCain Campaign?

You bluster about, spouting easily disproved lies.

You've so much as stated that Oregon, Montana and my home state of North Carolina don't count in your America -- all of them held primaries after April, all of them won by Obama.

--

I also appreciate the third-grade level of discourse that you've brought to this discussion.

I can see that you're a firm believer in predetermination by middle name -- and probably subscribe to the science of phrenology and regularly visit the barber for an adjustment of your bodily humours, so as to keep the demons at bay, much as Adam and Moses did, after riding their pet dinosaurs (everyone knows that even domesticated dinosaurs were rife with dirty demons and bacteria in those days).

For some reason, I don't get a Busby Berkeley vibe, when considering the policy positions of someone who fervently believes and hopes that the Apocalypse and Biblical End of Days will come within her lifetime.

With dogwhistle references to the book of Revelation and the rewards waiting for us in heaven, Palin, frankly, frightens me. (And her refusal to even discuss U.S. nuclear policy, also makes me wonder what she's really thinking.)

Chambliss joins not-quite-neighbors Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.)...

Gabriel, I suggest you study the map, again; North Carolina does border Georgia.

In fact, the location of the border has been a contentious issue since 1804 (there were actual gun battles), which has been raised again in the past year, over moving the border one mile north, to allow Georgia access to the Tennessee river, an additional source of drinking water.

http://picasaweb.google.com/fwodarcz/ATGeorgiaMay07#5064982029251710962

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM11VH