Senator John McCain is nothing but savvy, stealing the thunder from the Democratic Party on the opening day of the Democratic Convention in Denver with an ad that is set to appear later today featuring Debra Bartoshevich, the Clinton delegate from Racine, Wisconsin who was stripped of her status as a delegate for following her rights of conscience. Many of us cannot vote for Senator Obama out of conscience and the leaders of the Democratic Party continue to disparage us instead of actually court us. The Democratic Party’s leadership insists that:
They’ll come around.
I just adore that sentence structure. Notice the onus. It is on us, we old bitter hold-outs to do the coming around. Senator Obama and the Democratic Party’s leadership have to just sit and wait and reap the benefits of our votes, some 6 million votes in my estimation, because we’ll come around. They aren’t require to do any heavy lifting, it is we who have to do the work. Wrong.
If anything the polls show the reverse happening. Yesterday, in a poll by CNN that showed that Senator Joe Biden was a thud, giving the Obama campaign absolutely no bounce, there was some additional tidbits of data, more sobbering news for Obama and his merry bunch:
Sixty-six percent of Clinton supporters, registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee, are now backing Obama. That’s down from 75 percent in the end of June. Twenty-seven percent of them now say they’ll support McCain, up from 16 percent in late June.
“The number of Clinton Democrats who say they would vote for McCain has gone up 11 points since June, enough to account for most although not all of the support McCain has gained in that time,” says Holland.
Yup, that’s right. Obama is actually losing the support of Clinton supporters. Wanna know why? Well in part, it’s because Obama’s inexperience and arrogance continue to display themselves on a daily basis. But the other part is that Clinton supporters were a tightly knit group and we’re still talking. This past weekend I attended a dinner at a friend’s house. Ten gay guys, all of whom supported Senator Clinton during the primaries. Until Saturday night, most were tepid Obama supporters. They asked my opinion and so I gave it. It’s going to be a bleak four yours but McCain won’t make big mistakes and can handle crisises better. Obama is just a risk one can’t take. It made for depressing conversation frankly. It’s not that we are estatically for McCain, we are just cognizant that the White House is not the place for on the job training (geez, who am I quoting there). That hasn’t changed and as long as the United States is a superpower, it’s not going to change. Experience trumps politics. Country before party. So I was very happy to this morning to get an email from one of the attendees to that soiree telling me that yup voting Obama is a risk we just can’t take. Experience and judgment matter. Being able to trust someone even though you don’t agree with them all the time is important. I didn’t always agree with Senator Clinton, but I trusted her. I don’t trust Obama. It’s that simple.
We’re not coming around. We are flirting with the other guy. He, at least, is willing to do some heavy lifting.
After the Democratic Party’s decision to expel Debra Bartoshevich, McCain asked her to join him on the Straight Talk Express during a campaign visit to her home state of Wisconsin. The new ad is simple and straightfoward. Cheeful even unless you’re Howard Dean.
“I’m a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat,” says Bartoshevich, a nurse, in the 30-second spot. “She had the experience and judgment to be president. Now, in a first for me, I’m supporting a Republican, John McCain.
“A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It’s okay, really!”
The TV ads, and the campaign’s “Citizens for McCain” outreach initiative to former Clinton supporters, are being joined this week by efforts on the ground, as senior advisor Carly Fiorina and other top McCain officials head to Denver to recruit these disaffected Democrats. The Republican National Committee – which has opened a temporary war room in Denver – has made it clear the effort is a convention priority. “Typically when parties are split, the other one wins,” RNC Chairman Mike Duncan told reporters.
Ms. Bartoshevich will be appearing at a “Happy Hour for Hillary” in downtown Denver tonight. The reception is being hosted by the Republican National Committee tonight, just a few blocks from the Democratic National Convention.