Democratic Convention Watch: The Ad

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Ad

WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

Did you see the Barack Obama infomercial last night?

What did you think about it?

And, did it make a difference to the undecided voters?

Will it cause any McCain supporters to move over by Election Day?

Floor is open.

Comments (10)

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SLCScott 74p · 857 weeks ago

I'm going to start not with the informercial but with the 30 second McCain follow-up.

"Not ready...yet."

What is he, a pie? That's got to be the weirdest tag line I've ever seen in a political commercial

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DocJess 71p · 857 weeks ago

It's not actually weird. It was the original plan that the McCain team had. Of course, that team was fired, and replaced with Atwater-Rovians. The original plan was to say (AND MEAN) that "Obama is a great guy, a smart guy, and he's got a real future, he's just not quite ready....yet. I've been working with him in the Senate and he has great ideas, but he just isn't seasoned enough"

It was the plan they designed predicated on the plan they had to run against Hillary Clinton, who they WANTED to run against. They would have said something similar, but different, since it would not have been a change v experience campaign, it would have been experience v experience.

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Mark · 857 weeks ago

The informercial looked fairly well done. I think it played a little right of center, which I think is a good strategy to hook the soft republicans still sitting in the undecided category. I think it will amount to a mini-convention bounce. There could be a small temporary surge in the polls. But, this close to the election a temporary bounce will still be in effect by the time people are making up their minds at the ballot boxes (or ballot machines as the case may be). The timing is perfect. It's such that there will be 3 or 4 days of post-infomercial polling by the day before election day. Enough for all the trackers to have the event fully integrated. I'm guessing it could translate to +2 or 3 points.

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karl newman · 857 weeks ago

Agree with Mark. Right of center; not about Obama but the people of this country who are struggling. It was calming and hopeful. A perfect counterbalance to the fear coming from McPalin.

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CalebM · 857 weeks ago

For the first time in this election season I agree with McCain. Now don't laugh, McCain's add said 'not ready yet' and I agree. He won't be ready until Nov. 5th to be president. That is when we will all be saying "President-Elect' Obama. That is of course if we don't snach defeat out of the jaws of victory. So in reality he is ready to be president, are we ready for him. I'm sure my neighbors are tired of seeing me knocking on their doors asking of they have mailed in their vote (see the 'voting King County, WA for mine) And yes I live in a very blue state. But it still matters.

So to quote the greatest president of our time:
" Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does"

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jpgordon 2p · 857 weeks ago

One of our friends who watched it with us isn't a McCain supporter (though she did vote for Bush, twice, and is embarassed about it now), but is reluctant to vote for Obama specifically because of the $250,000 tax thing: she runs a successful small business which indeed nets over a quarter million. The infomercial got her thinking, and I think she'll be counted as an undecided voter swayed to vote Obama.

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3 replies · active 857 weeks ago

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POTUS_Breath · 857 weeks ago

JP,
I'd invite you to suggest one thing to her (which you may have already...) The Obama tax plan is a 'graduated' tax. I find many, many people have an instant reaction to the term "tax increase," (like indigestion, hair standing up, expletives, etc.) and at the same time, fail to recognize that the impact of the tax increase only takes effect ABOVE $250,000. So, if she has a thriving business at $250,000/yr, there's essentially no increase in taxes. If she pulls in $280,000/yr., the additional tax is ONLY figured on the extra $30,000. NOT on the whole $280,000. That kind of example just might reassure her enough to be a firm Obama voter.

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