The District (pure brilliance from NewsWeek)

Obama Goes Negative

77 per cent of Mr Obama's ads in the past two weeks have been negative compared with 56 per cent of Mr McCain's, according to a University of Wisconsin analysis.

And it's working.


OBAMA WIPES OUT MCCAIN'S FLORIDA LEAD

BARACK Obama has gained ground on John McCain in key battleground states, wiping out the Republican's lead in Florida and trailing by just one point in North Carolina, according to a new CNN/Time poll.

The poll comes as other surveys show Mr Obama regaining his national lead over Mr McCain as the impact of Sarah Palin's selection as the Republican running mate appears to fade.

The CNN poll puts Mr Obama ahead by two points in Ohio and by three in Wisconsin, with Mr McCain leading by six points in Indiana. It shows the two candidates in a dead heat in Florida, with 48 per cent each.

Mr Obama's poll surge follows days of aggressive Democratic campaigning aimed at portraying Mr McCain as out of touch on the economy, which voters identify as the most important issue in the campaign.

A University of Wisconsin analysis found that 77 per cent of Mr Obama's ads in the past two weeks have been negative, compared with 56 per cent of Mr McCain's.

The two campaigns clashed yesterday over a Spanish-language ad in which Mr Obama linked Mr McCain's views on immigration to those of right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

"They want us to forget the insults we've put up with, the intolerance," the ad's announcer says as a picture of Mr Limbaugh appears on screen with quotes of him saying, "Mexicans are stupid and unqualified" and "Shut your mouth or get out".

"John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote and another, even worse, that continues the failed policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families."

Mr McCain's campaign hit back, pointing out that the Republican braved the hostility of his party's base to back comprehensive immigration reform while Mr Obama backed Senate amendments that killed a bipartisan immigration Bill.

The McCain ticket came under friendly fire yesterday when Nebraska Republican senator Chuck Hagel said that Ms Palin lacked foreign policy experience and called it a "stretch" to say she was qualified to be president.

"She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald.

"You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

From The Irish Times

Denver Prepares For The Main Event

Check out the best reporting on the Democratic National Convention from Campaigns and Elections Blog live from Denver

CNN DNC Coverage

Article taken from Irish Times be Reuters

Democrats prepared a grand celebration today for Barack Obama, who will accept a historic presidential nomination with a speech that spells out his vision for change in America.

Mr Obama, the first black presidential nominee of a major US party, will deliver the address in Denver's open-air football stadium before 75,000 supporters on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech - a landmark in the US civil rights movement.

The televised speech by Mr Obama, who was formally nominated yesterday, will give the first-term Illinois senator his biggest national audience until he meets Republican rival John McCain in late September in the first of three face-to-face debates before the November 4th election.

In an unannounced appearance in the hall at the end of yesterday's national convention program, Mr Obama said he shifted the event to the football stadium as a tribute to the grass-roots energy of his supporters.

"We want to open up the convention to make sure that everybody who wants to come can join in the party," said Mr Obama (47) who appeared on stage after the acceptance speech of his newly minted running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden.

National conventions are often the first time voters start to pay attention to a presidential race. Opinion polls show many voters are still unfamiliar with Mr Obama and concerned about his readiness for the job.

Republicans, who hold their own convention in St Paul, Minnesota next week to nominate the veteran 71-year-old Mr McCain, hammered on their theme that Mr Obama is unprepared and his soaring speeches mask a lack of substance.

"The question for Obama is 'What have you done and what have you run?'," Minnesota Govenor Tim Pawlenty, named as a possible running mate for Mr McCain, said on ABC's Good Morning America . "He has good oratory but when you shut off the teleprompter there's not much there," he said.

Speakers at the Democratic convention have addressed those concerns, led by rousing testimonials for Mr Obama from former rival Hillary Clinton, her husband former President Bill Clinton and Mr Biden.

"Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore American leadership in the world," Bill Clinton told flag-waving Democrats.

Mr Obama is running even with McCain in opinion polls. The back to back-to-back nominating conventions will give voters a chance to compare and contrast.

Mr Obama's senior strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters the speech would focus on Mr Obama's vision for the country's future.

"He's going to lay out a case for change. He's going to set the stakes of this election, the risks of continuing down the road we're on which is plainly what Senator McCain is offering," Mr Axelrod said.

Democrats tie Mr McCain's name to that of the unpopular President George W. Bush, whose eight years in power are associated with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and an economic malaise.

Some Democrats have said Mr Obama needs to be more specific about his priorities as president, and draw a sharp contrast with Mr McCain. Mr Axelrod said both elements would be included.

Republicans, seeking to draw attention away from the Democrats on their big day, tried to build up anticipation over Mr McCain's vice-presidential pick. A party official had said yesterday Mr McCain had made his choice, but the senator denied in an interview with KDKA NewsRadio in Pittsburgh today he had yet made a decision.

He did say, however, that two men considered potential running mates would join him at a rally in Ohio on Friday, his 72nd birthday, when the announcement is expected. They were former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.

If elected Mr McCain would be the oldest first-term president to take office.

Mr Obama was formally nominated on Wednesday in an emotional show of unity after Hillary Clinton, his vanquished rival, appeared on the convention floor to ask Democrats to suspend their roll call of the states and make Mr Obama the nominee by acclamation.

Former Vice President Al Gore will speak to the convention before Obama today. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Hispanic, will also make an appearance. Hispanics are a fast growing segment of the U.S. electorate and a potentially vital voting bloc.

The last presidential candidate to accept the nomination in an open-air football stadium was John Kennedy, who spoke to the Democratic convention at the Los Angeles Coliseum before 80,000 supporters in 1960.

Political Cartoon Of The Day

Political Cartoon Of The Day

Winning Votes The Left Way

In a bid to destroy the image of being a Muslim, as portrayed in a recent New Yorker cartoon, US Presidential candidate Barack Obama is pictured below on his current trip to Israel. Next month's New Yorker cover is expected to contain a caricature of Obama in Jewish clothes in a bid to win back vital votes that this month's New Yorker cartoon lost him. A recent poll revealed that 10% of the electorate believe Barack Obama to be Muslim, while some believe he was educated in a Madrassa (Islamic religious school). Mr Obama said the ties between Israel and the United States were unbreakable.

What's in a Cartoon?

The second installment of Cartoon Wars has struck! This time it’s a cartoon on the cover of The New Yorker depicting Presidential candidate Barack Obama in Muslim clothes and his wife as a terrorist. Obama’s campaign has labeled the cartoons as “tasteless and offensive”. John McCain said the cover was "totally inappropriate and frankly I understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive".

The furore over The New Yorker’s cartoon reminds us of the controversy surrounding the publication of those Danish cartoons several years ago of the Muslim prophet Muhammed. The Danish cartoons showed the prophet Muhammed with a turban hiding a bomb on his head, giving the impression that he was a suicide bomber. The publication and re-publication of this cartoon led to death threats on the cartoonists life, international condemnation and diplomatic action against Denmark.

The governments of Pakistan and Turkey condemned the publication of the satirical drawings of the prophet Muhammed, while in Europe states were divided in their approach. Jack Straw, the UK foreign secretary, denounced the decision to republish the cartoons, saying that press freedom carried an obligation not “to be gratuitously inflammatory”. Mr Straw affirmed that he believed in freedom of the press but stated, ‘I believe that the republication of these cartoons has been insulting, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong”. He went on to praise the British press for their decision not to reprint the offending cartoons, which demonstrated their “considerable responsibility and sensitivity”. But the German home minister, Wolfgang Schauble, sought to defend the decision of four German newspapers to reprint the cartoons by claiming that their republication was “an expression of press freedom”.

Professional Cartoonist Daryl Cagle explains:

‘Cartoons can be outrageous in their exaggeration; we draw things that never happened, and never could happen -- but we have a contract with the readers who understand that we’re drawing crazy things that convey our own views. The New Yorker’s Obama cover fails to keep that contract with readers. Cartoonists don’t exaggerate anything just because we have the freedom to do so; we exaggerate to communicate in a way that our readers understand.’

Cagle believes that The New Yorker’s cartoon is somewhat flawed but that it could have been fixed with a minor alteration:

‘There is no frame of reference in The New Yorker’s cover to put the scene into perspective. Following the rules of political cartoons, I could fix it. I would have Obama think in a thought balloon, “I must be in the nightmare of some conservative.” With that, the scene is shown to be in the mind of someone the cartoonist disagrees with and we have defined the target of the cartoon as crazy conservatives with their crazy dreams.’

Cartoons will often be inflammatory to certain individuals or groups. It is important to ensure that they do not go too far by creating hatred for particular individuals, groups, races or religions. Malicious attacks must not be tolerated. However, both freedom of speech and the press are fundamental principles of our society. What we must ensure is balance. But, perhaps the most important thing is for those who are offended to develop a greater resistance to finding offence. The greatest double standard that can exist is not being able to laugh at oneself.