A Tale of Two Campaigns...

Here we stand, three weeks away from the most critical election in a generation. What was supposed to be another nail-biter is looking more and more like a landslide in the making. Much of this can be traced to the very different ways that Senators Obama and McCain have conducted their campaign.

Almost from the start, the Obama campaign embraced the "50 State Strategy" espoused by Howard Dean. Dean's idea was to take the fight to the Republicans in traditionally red states rather than simply trying to hold the traditionally blue states and hope for one or two pick-ups. This strategy is playing out quite nicely, with Senator Obama currently enjoying leads in the crucial states of Ohio and Florida and even showing leads in (formerly) GOP bastions like Virginia and North Carolina. Even today, Pollster.com posted a poll taken by Minnesota State University that shows Obama with a small lead in NORTH DAKOTA! While this poll may very well be an outlier, it still makes a point: the Obama surge is now permeating into traditionally safe Rpublican states.

Of course, Obama is also being aided greatly by a variety of factors. The current economic crisis has made household across the income spectrum quite nervous, while the public long ago grew tired of a seemingly endless war in Iraq. An unexpected benefit for Obama has been the total ineptitude of the McCain campaign, which seemingly has no idea what to do. Do we "suspend" our campaign to fly back to Washington to pretend to tackle the bailout? Do we just declare that we are going to "turn the page" on the economy? Or do we turn our campaign rallies into vile hate-fests resembling a Klan meeting more than a campaign rally?

Throughout this process, Barack Obama has remained a study in class. He has never stooped to McCain's level, but he also has not been afraid to defend himself from McCain and Palin's twisted distortions. Obama has stayed on message and the polls show the voters approve. Many polls currently show a double-digit lead for Obama.

For the McCain campaign, on the other hand, the news just isn't as good. For starters, there has been a notable exodus of moderate Republicans from Team McCain since McCain and Plain decided to behave more like George Wallace and less like George Washington. Last week, former Governor William Milliken of Michigan withdrew his endorsement of McCain based on the campaign's tone and Sarah Palin's complete ineptitude. Milliken called the idea of Sarah Palin becoming President "disturbing, if not appalling". Former Senator Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island has been stumping the country on behalf of Senator Obama. Even popular Florida Governor Charlie Crist chose to spend a day at Disneyworld rather than campaign with McCain in Florida. (This is especially ironic considering that Crist's endorsement of McCain sealed McCain's victory in the crucial Florida primary , thus ending the presidential hopes of former mayor and professional 9/11 ghoul Rudy Guiliani.

If moderate Republicans are deserting McCain, they have some conservative company. Recently, conservative heavyweight Bill Kristol said that McCain's campaign was "doomed" unless he took major steps, including firing his entire campaign staff. Newt Gingrich is predicting a McCain loss unless he dramatically shakes things up. Mitt Romney and former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson both are predicting that a toxic McCain effect could lead the party to significant losses down-ballot this November.

My first experience in working on a presidential campaign was volunteering for Michael Dukakis in 1988. As badly run as that campaign was, the 2008 McCain campaign is worse. it is a campaign devoid of ideas or real strategy. it is a campaign with no real grasp of resource allocation. For example, recently McCain spent a day campaigning in Iowa. Obama boasts a commanding lead in Iowa (a nearly12% advantage according to Real Clear Politics. Likewise, it had to be embarrassing when Sarah Palin was dispatched to Philadelphia (Obama advantage in Pennsylvania, 13%) to drop the puck at a hockey game only to be greeted by a chorus of boos from the crowd. While the McCain/Palin team continues its "victory lap" of solid Obama states, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have allocated their time to more fruitful pastures: Ohio, Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.

John McCain has only himself to blame for his standing in the polls. It was he who made the disastrous choice of Sarah Palin to be his running mate and he has had to watch as the moose-hunting maverick hockey mom was proven to be a dimwit with ethical problems who can only read from prepared texts. It was McCain who tried the stunt of "suspending" his campaign and hinted at cancelling the first debate only to realize that voters wanted a debate and they wanted answers. It was McCain who let the crowds at his rallies degenerate into hateful, racist mobs without (until recently) even bothering to ask for decorum. And it will be McCain who will be on the receiving end of 9potentially) the greatest electoral landslide since George Herbert Walker buried Michael Dukakis in 1988.