Friday, April 11, 2008
Didn't Work for Mitt
John McCain will probably be the first Republican to be outspent by a Democrat in a long time. So what? The medium matters, but so does the message it delivers. McCain's campaign had the plug pulled out and stuck back in more times than Terri Schiavo. Romney outspent him by enough to name a few buildings in Harvard Yard, and yet, Mitt's the one looking for the right shade of lipstick to compliment the grumpy old man's cheeks.
This isn't to say that either Romney or McCain are or were perfect candidates, but neither is Obama. He lost Massachusetts on his merits, and since Super Tuesday he's fallen from the heights of Mount Olympus by failing to rid himself of a turbulent priest. Had Hillary not scored the most devastating own goal since Michael Dukakis hopped into a tank, Obama would likely be looking at a resounding enough beatdown in Pennsylvania to give the superdelegates pause (under GOP winner-take-all primary rules, she'd be ahead), but instead they've all been reminded of the one thing about the Clintons that we were all glad to be rid of eight years ago.
Nor does the path become easier for Obama as Hillary is forced into the rear-view mirror. Hillary pokes him with the tiniest of sticks and is called a murderess; the strongest arguments against him (he's an inexperienced pinko) are ones she can only make through third-cousin surrogates on public-access cable on nights with a crescent moon. Money buys you the chance to frame the debate, but what you put in the frame matters too. Just ask Mitt. ¶ 11:13 AM
John McCain will probably be the first Republican to be outspent by a Democrat in a long time. So what? The medium matters, but so does the message it delivers. McCain's campaign had the plug pulled out and stuck back in more times than Terri Schiavo. Romney outspent him by enough to name a few buildings in Harvard Yard, and yet, Mitt's the one looking for the right shade of lipstick to compliment the grumpy old man's cheeks.
This isn't to say that either Romney or McCain are or were perfect candidates, but neither is Obama. He lost Massachusetts on his merits, and since Super Tuesday he's fallen from the heights of Mount Olympus by failing to rid himself of a turbulent priest. Had Hillary not scored the most devastating own goal since Michael Dukakis hopped into a tank, Obama would likely be looking at a resounding enough beatdown in Pennsylvania to give the superdelegates pause (under GOP winner-take-all primary rules, she'd be ahead), but instead they've all been reminded of the one thing about the Clintons that we were all glad to be rid of eight years ago.
Nor does the path become easier for Obama as Hillary is forced into the rear-view mirror. Hillary pokes him with the tiniest of sticks and is called a murderess; the strongest arguments against him (he's an inexperienced pinko) are ones she can only make through third-cousin surrogates on public-access cable on nights with a crescent moon. Money buys you the chance to frame the debate, but what you put in the frame matters too. Just ask Mitt. ¶ 11:13 AM
