http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snsnqbq_O Co

Obama Opts Out of  General Electino Public Finance - Independent from Broken System

Supertuesday still mattered for the Republican side of the voting. Though McCain seemed poised towards the nomination at that point, there was still a chance to change that.The Republican faithful had every reason to turn out and push for their candidate. Yet, the Democratic turnout was 4-5 times larger than the Republicans statewide.

Obama won by a massive margin in every county, and McCain came in second. In short, Obama's already won (enough of) us over here; really unlikely to be a battle ground. I'd expect something like a 15+ point or more win.

Trying to woo people with Pawlenty as the VP is probably the only way to make this any sort of battleground. Even then it's a longshot.

agree, lori.

They'll make their share of mistakes, but I feel more confident with this candidate and his campaign staff's strategy than I ever was with the last two Democratic nominees.

(And this is not a judgement of the value of the respective candidates, just a comment on the strength of the campaign as a whole.)

but I think it was what Obama needed to do.

People want to like him, to vote for him, but some still need this kind of "introduction."

I think its great when a politician talks about his/her love for the country .

He talked about patriotism in a way that was refreshing and real in that ad , I like it.

Agreed. This is clearly aimed at swing voters and Reagan Democrats by pushing against the worst Democratic stereotypes (committed to welfare queens, unpatriotic, lacks values etc.) and introducing himself to general election voters who might not have been quite as tuned in during the primary.

that Obama has to run such a soft "I love my country" ad (a foreshadowing of what we will see at the Democratic convention).  But we live in a country where 18% of people think the sun revolves around the earth and 30% approve of the job that George Bush has done as President. The irony is that the single greatest motivation of many ardent Obama supporters is patriotism.

This election is shaping up to be a referendum about Barack Obama.  People don't want to vote for McCain but they will unless they are comfortable with Obama.  

PS- I'm glad that Axelrod and the AKP&D gang are prominently including older voters in the ads.  You have to talk to and include these voters in the campaign if you want to win them over.

Ah, yes, the better angels of our nature...oh, you mean angles?  I don't think Lincoln had much to say about those...he wasn't exactly photogenic.

Thats a way too optimistic prediction , Obama would win minnesota but Mccain seems to be popular there because of his " independent " image.

where he looks like he's 3 sitting with his grandfather is especially powerful.  the color is a little messed up (just cause it's an old photo) and you really can't see the difference in color between the two.  just a kid and his everyman grandpa.  

That's really interesting, although I doubt Alaska would be the motivation for the flip.  He just wants to hammer his faux populist pitch on gas prices, and his current ANWR views hinder that a bit.  

Then again, adding to his ever growing collection of flip-flops has some risks as well, if the media got there heads out of his ass long enough to notice.

ANWR.  

Here in California gas is getting close to $5.00 per gallon.  If I was McCain I would have flip flopped yesterday.

There are just so many ways to rationalize the change in position.  

Then again, if I was Obama I would have flip flopped on the 16th month withdrawal from Iraq. It is a no-brainer.  His base isn't going to abandon him and it would take the single justification for voting McCain off the table.  Sheesh Obama, easiest move since throwing Rev. Wright under the bus.