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Robert Novak: Yes, McCain can still win
The Lima News ^ | October 9, 2008 | Robert Novak

Posted on 10/10/2008 12:55:51 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Can John McCain possibly win this thing? Can he actually win in November?

The outlook is bleak: The polls are ugly, the Electoral College map is grim, the economy is getting worse, and McCain's choice of Sarah Palin may have energized the Republican base, but it has appalled and frightened many outside that base.

Still, McCain's campaign has come back from the dead more than once: He survived his early support for immigration reform; he not only survived but has prospered from his support for the Iraq war surge, and he rebuilt a primary campaign that was in a state of near collapse to win the Republican nomination.

But can McCain do it again? That question was posed to a panel of Republican experts:

• Ken Duberstein was Ronald Reagan's chief of staff from 1998 to 1999 and deputy under secretary of labor for Gerald Ford.

"I think it is uphill for McCain but a victory is doable," Duberstein said. "He needs obviously to raise questions about Obama, but he also needs to reassure the America people - and not simply the base - that he has a plan to get us out of this economic mess and restore America's stature throughout the world.

"He needs to spell out not why he is a maverick, but what he will do to lead. What are the specifics? What is the strategy? He needs a three yards and a cloud of dust and not a Hail Mary strategy. He needs to do what John McCain does best, which is explain to the people where John McCain wants to take the country.

"There are a hundred lifetimes yet ahead in this campaign, starting with the debate Tuesday night. This is an election about big issues and big ideas, and this is not the time to play small ball. We are well past this stage. To many Americans, earmarks are a facial blemish. He has to talk about spending, not just earmarks, not just about a Bridge to Nowhere and about bears' DNA."

• Greg Mueller was a senior adviser to Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes in their presidential campaigns and is an expert on conservative politics.

"McCain needs to change the discussion back to a referendum on Obama. He needs to define Obama's agenda as dangerous to America," Mueller said.

"It is dangerous to the economy. Obama is calling for higher taxes, historical spending and a huge increase in regulation that will hamper American business. Contrast that with McCain's message of lower taxes and freezing spending. On foreign policy and national security, Obama is a risky bet in a hostile world. McCain needs to keep banging those themes over and over again so on Election Day voters think Obama is just not ready for this.

"The Supreme Court issue can be extremely powerful for McCain: Obama is basically for using the court for social engineering. This is key for Reagan Democrats in key swings state. Catholics respond very well to the Supreme Court issue. McCain and Palin have got to get on that."

• Whit Ayres is a pollster and consultant who worked in Lamar Alexander's 1996 presidential campaign and in numerous Senate and governor's races. He is an expert on Southern politics.

"Anybody who is talking about a race being over a month out has not been participating in very many campaigns," Ayres said.

"The Obama-Biden ticket is the most liberal ticket the Democrats have offered America since George McGovern in 1972. Barack Obama is far morel liberal than most Americans. Moreover, a politician's associations are a window into his values. If John McCain liked to hang around with the Ku Klux Klan and if his church had given a lifetime achievement award to racist David Duke, all of us would consider those legitimate areas of inquiry.

"On leadership, values, culture and ideology, John McCain is far closer to most Americans than Barack Obama."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; economy; election; elections; financialcrisis; mccain; novak; obama; palin
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To: snarkytart
I'm not giving up, I'm still voting

Same for me. I cant believe McCain will let it go away without more of a fight after running twice, but he really needs to pull something out of his hat.

41 posted on 10/10/2008 5:15:10 AM PDT by valkyry1 (McCain/Palin 2008)
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To: Irene Adler
Try using the Free Republic Search function with 2004polls as the keyword.

Cheers!

42 posted on 10/10/2008 5:18:46 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: snarkytart
The closer it gets, and the more the polls stay the same, the more we need to face reality that Obama will be elected.

Where is the smug glee on the faces of all the MSM shills and whores, then?

THEY know the truth.

The internals of the polls are cooked.

And ACORN is being put under the magnifying glass by the FEDS. This time, *before* the election.

Cheers!

43 posted on 10/10/2008 5:21:53 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Darkwolf377
Check again.

Skip to comments. Presidential Polls, October, 2004 ... Survey USA: Bush 48, Kerry 50. ARG: Bush 47, Kerry 50

Just copied this from google.

If you're going to pretend to state facts, show some.

44 posted on 10/10/2008 5:27:42 AM PDT by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages - In Honor of Standing Wolf)
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To: sushiman

Dubya in 2000 would have made mincemeat of Obama.


45 posted on 10/10/2008 5:29:32 AM PDT by Tribune7 (Obama wants to put the same crowd that ran Fannie Mae in charge of health care)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“but he also needs to reassure the America people - and not simply the base - that he has a plan to get us out of this economic mess”

And what has nobama offered “to get us out of this economic mess?”

Nothing. But let’s not mention that.

Another stupid story to ignore.


46 posted on 10/10/2008 5:41:13 AM PDT by sergeantdave (We are entering the Age of the Idiot)
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To: grey_whiskers
THEY know the truth. The internals of the polls are cooked.

And you know this... how?

47 posted on 10/10/2008 5:44:10 AM PDT by workerbee (Sarah Palin's very existence is a threat to the Left.)
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To: singfreedom

“...When Jerome Corsi was arrested in Kenya, that also was a not so subtle hint that something is rotten...”

There is another possibility. It could be a set up to totally destroy the credibility of the right. (even though the attorney fighting this battle is Hillary a dem, all the One has to say is he’s a right wing nut and none of his zombies will bother to verify it.)

Once the court orders Obama to produce a vault COLB, he does and it is genuine. BOOM! The right is laughed out of the country al la Eugene McCarthy (even though McCarthy was right. Strange the dems never seem to mention him these days.)

This guy is COLD!

I am going to blitz McCain with FAXes. He has got to hit him between the eyes with facts and hang this financial mess around his neck.


48 posted on 10/10/2008 5:45:35 AM PDT by Islander7 (The only thing Obama has to fear is the truth!)
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To: workerbee
Read the details of the polls.

The Washington Post poll which had McCain down by 9% nationally had sampled 52% Dem and 38% GOP.

So with a 14 point headstart, Obama is only 9% up.

Cheers!

49 posted on 10/10/2008 5:53:45 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: lentulusgracchus

And Republican members of Congress supported denying Dornan a fair inquiry! (fear of being called racist)

Similarly, Trent Lott had not interest in checking into the fraudulent election of Mary Landrieu.


50 posted on 10/10/2008 6:30:05 AM PDT by Theodore R. (Cowardice is forever!)
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To: snarkytart

Yes, all the American people know to do is vote out the “ins” and put in the “outs”. Even though they think the “ins” in Congress are Republican, it doesn’t matter to them. It’s really as simple as that.


51 posted on 10/10/2008 6:33:39 AM PDT by Theodore R. (Cowardice is forever!)
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To: A message
>>As others have posted, the polls in '04 gave a considerable edge to Kerry and we know how that turned out.<<

I keep seeing posts like this, but I don't think that was true starting in Sept.


52 posted on 10/10/2008 6:56:03 AM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (I want to "Buy American" but the only things for sale made in the USA are politicians)
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To: According2RecentPollsAirIsGood

“We used to hear about McCain’s infamous temper; oh, how scary it would be to have someone so unstable and angry in the White House! I’d seriously bet quite a bit of money that if McCain snapped, went off on a angry rant about how much he can’t stand these unpatriotic, socialist Democrats and the radicals that own them, how he’s disgusted by the libel and slander they hurl at Sarah and him everyday, and how Obama will decimate the country if elected...if he’d do that (the angrier, the better), he’d win by a landslide.”

In spite of feeding the MSM more fuel for their creative cookout, you are correct. Americans want and need their leader(s) to be as passionate and aggressive as they dream themselves to be.


53 posted on 10/10/2008 7:11:49 AM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, Call 'em what you will, they ALL have Fairies livin' in their Trees.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think the polls are bogus into making all think O is winning because they know he will lose big, and that will create tension, and Mrs O will come out and say the race card was the reason why her husband lost.

She will have an even bigger chip on her shoulder. Imagine how she will explain it to her daughters.


54 posted on 10/10/2008 7:50:20 AM PDT by hsmomx3 (GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: roamer_1

Mike Pence and Sarah Palin should run together in 2012.


55 posted on 10/10/2008 11:43:39 AM PDT by TheFourthMagi
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To: valkyry1
Does not sound to good for us at all does it?

It does in 2010.

56 posted on 10/10/2008 11:45:48 AM PDT by Ol' Sparky (Liberal Republicans are the greater of two evils)
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To: lentulusgracchus
Yeah, remember what happened to Bob Dornan out in Orange County, California -- done out of his seat by a ballot-stuffing Chicana, Loretta Sanchez.

Dornan also had one of those Perot-UWS guys running against him taking away a good many legal votes.

57 posted on 10/10/2008 11:49:49 AM PDT by MozarkDawg
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To: TheFourthMagi
I still want Hunter. I hope he tries again. Hunter/Pence, Hunter/Palin would be fine... Palin is still an unknown for me- not enough track record... If she were serving as VP under a good Conservative, I would be more comfortable with the passing of the torch thing...
58 posted on 10/10/2008 12:58:23 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just Socialism in a business suit.)
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To: Theodore R.
And Republican members of Congress supported denying Dornan a fair inquiry! (fear of being called racist)

And since "respectable" Republicans like Trent Lott, Bob Dole, and John McCain have to prove endlessly that they are above all that, that they are cool, empyrean beings, dwellers in the serene Otherworld of service in the public interest, the Dems can do any damn thing they please, if only they remember to set a "racist" or "bigot" or "demagogue" or other rhetorical pick, to keep the Pubbies from going where the Dems don't want them to. Like into the Dems' dirty laundry.

Which is why they hated Newt. He'd go there, zestfully.

59 posted on 10/10/2008 1:18:39 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus ("Whatever." -- sinkspur)
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To: roamer_1

Sarah Palin, Mike Pence, and Duncan Hunter are top notch folks. In addition to getting Sarah elected Vice President this year, I would really like for Mike Pence to become Minority Leader so he can get known to the nation.


60 posted on 10/10/2008 3:28:26 PM PDT by TheFourthMagi
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