“Of the 263,408 ballots already cast, 38% were by voters who identify themselves as African Americans, even though blacks account for just 29% of Georgia’s 5.6 million voters. Registration is up from about 4.3 million in November 2004 and about 4 million in November 2000. John McCain holds a substantial lead over Barack Obama in most Georgia polls, including leads of seven and eight percentage points in Research 2000 and SurveyUSA polls taken last week. ” [Link]
“‘We are supporting Senator Barack Obama because of his judgment, experience, and ability to inspire people to come together around a common purpose,’ the letter said. ‘Senator Obama’s talents offer an historic opportunity; for the sake of America’s security and standing in the world, we must seize it.’ The letter, signed by officials from both major political parties, said the foreign policies of the Bush administration have diminished America’s alliances abroad.” [Link]
“‘Sen. McCain doesnt get it. He doesn’t understand the storm that hit Wall Street hit Main Street long ago,’ Obama said, standing before the Detroit Public Library. ‘ That’s why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response. He sort of stood there. He said the fundamental of the economy are strong. It’s why he’s been shifting positions these last two weeks, looking for photo-ops, trying to figure out what to say and what to do.’” [Link]
“The Quinnipiac surveys found that Obama has double-digit leads among women in every state except Minnesota. In Colorado, he pulled ahead of McCain after trailing in July. Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, sid he believed the results reflect the growing unpopulaqrity of President George W. Bush — whom Obama has persistently linked to McCain — and the financial catastrophe on Wall Street.” [Link]
“An Obama spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, confirmed Sunday that the campaign’s North Dakota staffers were being sent to Minnesota and Wisconsin, where recent polls have shown a tight race between Obama and Republican John McCain. She declined to say how many campaign workers were being shifted, but other Democratic activists put the number at more than 50.” [Link]
“‘First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money,’ Mr. Obama told supporters at an outdoor rally in downtown Charlotte. ‘Second, taxpayers shouldn’t be spending a dime to reward C.E.O.s on Wall Street while they’re going out the door.’” [Link]
“Obama is calling out McCain in ads that say the GOP nominee takes an ‘extreme position on choice’ and ‘will make abortion illegal.’ He is spreading his message through low-profile radio ads and campaign mailings, though, hoping to avoid being tagged as too liberal on a woman’s right to choose to end a pregnancy.” [Link]
“‘John McCain says that he’ll take on the special interests and lobbyists, but McCain can’t fix a problem he’s been part of for three decades. The 500,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to kick the special interests out and change Washington,’ said David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, in a statement.” [Link]
“Speaking at a high school in Norfolk, Obama took a few moments to address what he calls ‘the made-up controversy’ of the day, Amie Parnes reports. Obama said the McCain campaign moved to ’seize an innocent remark and take it out of context because they knew it’s catnip for the news media.’” [Link]
“‘Our kids and our country can’t afford four more years of neglect and indifference. At this defining moment in our history, America faces few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy,’ Obama said at a campaign event in Riverside, Ohio. Obama also charged that Sen. John McCain hasn’t done ‘one thing’ to improve public education. ” [Link]
Fannie Mae
“‘Under no circumstances should the executives of these institutions earn a windfall at a time when the U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources,’ Obama said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart. ‘I urge you immediately to clarify that the agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac voids any such inappropriate windfall payments to outgoing CEOs and senior management.’ ” [Link]
Barack Obama
“It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: ‘Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.’ Obama had a few problems with that. ‘First of all, you don’t even get to read them their rights until you catch ‘em,’ Obama said here, drawing laughs from 1,500 supporters in a high school gymnasium. ‘They should spend more time trying to catch Osama bin Laden and we can worry about the next steps later.’ If the plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks are in the government’s sights, Obama went on, they should be targeted and killed. ‘My position has always been clear: If you’ve got a terrorist, take him out,’ Obama said. ‘Anybody who was involved in 9/11, take ‘em out.’” [Link]
“New numbers released by CNN Monday explain just how the presidential race remains so close with 57 days to go until voters weigh in at the polls: the conventions were so successful for both parties that that each essentially canceled the other out. The candidates’ favorable ratings are identical (60 percent) — and almost identical to what they were before the conventions began. The GOP convention made Republicans more enthusiastic (an increase of 17 points). But Democrats are more enthusiastic as well (up 14 points), so an 11 point ‘enthusiasm gap’ favoring remains: 71 percent of Democrats say they are enthusiastic about the election, compared to 60 percent of Republicans.” [Link]
“The New York Senator touts the economic plan of Obama-Biden while blasting the GOP ticket as “more of the same” in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday. “I didn’t hear the Republicans at their convention address the needs of real Americans.” “We have a tough road ahead of us, but I don’t think it could be any clearer what the choice will be.”” [Link]
“The campaign had predicted that its August numbers could lag given the difficulty of reaching residents during vacation season. But the August gain puts the Obama campaign very much on track toward its goal of signing up 150,000 new voters by the early October voter registration deadline, on top of the 142,000 new voters who registered during primary season.” [Link]
