Monday - November 06, 2006

Lamestream Media Has The Jitters

Bush Trumpets Iraq Verdict to Rally Support
_{WASHINGTON (NY TIMES) - November 5, 2006}

President Bush on Sunday seized on the conviction of Saddam Hussein as a milestone in Iraq, seeking to rally Republican voters with the issue of national security as some polls suggested that his party might be making gains in the final hours of the campaign. The White House said the timing of the announcement, two days before Election Day, had nothing to do with American politics and had been dictated by the Iraqi court. But Mr. Bush moved quickly to put it to use in what has been his central strategic imperative over the past week, trying to rouse Republican voters to turn out.

“Today we witnessed a landmark event in the history of Iraq: Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal,” Mr. Bush said to roars of approval in a hockey auditorium packed with supporters in Grand Island, Neb. “Saddam Hussein’s trial is a milestone in the Iraqi people’s efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law.”

Senior aides to Mr. Bush scoffed at suggestions that the announcement of the verdict had somehow been orchestrated by the White House. “Are you smoking rope?” Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said Saturday in anticipation of the verdict. “Are you telling me that in Iraq, that they’re sitting around — I’m sorry, that the Iraqi judicial system is coming up with an October surprise?”

The announcement out of Baghdad came as polls suggested some gains for Republicans. A Pew Research Center Survey released on Sunday found that the number of likely voters who said they would vote for the Democrats was now 47 percent compared with 43 percent who said they would vote for Republicans. Two weeks ago, Democrats had an edge of 50 to 39. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found a similar tightening.

These kinds of polls, about the so-called generic ballot, measure national trends and do not necessarily provide an accurate measure of what is happening in individual House and Senate races. Andrew Kohut, the president of the Pew Center, said the poll nonetheless found that Republicans were becoming more enthusiastic as Election Day approached, a sign that the party was making progress in addressing one of its main problems this year: a dispirited base.

With at least 20 House races and 3 Senate races virtually tied in polls over the past week, Republican officials have looked to the huge voter turnout operation the party has developed over the past six years as its last-stand defense to prevent Democrats from making big gains on Tuesday. A series of Mason-Dixon polls published on Sunday suggested a tightening in two Senate races, Rhode Island and Maryland, that Democrats had been confident of winning.

Republicans over the past week have spent heavily in Maryland on behalf of Michael Steele, the Republican candidate seeking to fill the seat being vacated by Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, a Democrat. In Rhode Island, Senator Lincoln Chafee, the Republican, has spent heavily and banked on his family’s long history in the state’s politics to help him survive in a heavily Democratic state.

Ken Mehlman, the Republican chairman, said polls showed that Republicans and conservatives “were coming home,” which he said “is what happens when voters focus on the choice before them.” Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the Democrat leading his party’s effort to win control of the House, said, “It’s inevitable that there would be some tightening in the end.” Still, Mr. Emanuel, who has been careful this campaign to avoid the public expressions of optimism voiced by other Democrats, added, “This is making me nervous.”

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Parties Crank Up Voter Turnout Efforts
Amid the Last-Minute Blitz, Some Polls Hold Positive Signs for Republicans
_{(WASHINGTON POST) - Monday, November 6, 2006}

Republicans seized on signs of movement in their direction yesterday as they unleashed a massive election-eve voter mobilization operation in an effort to stave off potentially substantial losses in the House and preserve at least a slender majority in the Senate.

Democrats answered the Republicans’ get-out-the-vote machinery with intensified efforts to contact infrequent and still-undecided voters in a handful of tight Senate races as well as in more than two dozen GOP-held House districts where races were too close to call.

A Pew Research Center poll showed a significant narrowing in the partisan advantage in House races that the Democrats have enjoyed for much of the year, findings that echoed those of a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Saturday showing the Democrats with a six-point edge.

The Pew poll showed that the Democratic advantage had dropped to 47 percent to Republicans’ 43 percent among likely voters, down from 50 percent to 39 percent two weeks ago. The poll found a drop in Democratic support among independents, but Pew Director Andrew Kohut said the most significant change over the past two weeks is that Republicans now outnumber Democrats among likely voters.

Separately, a USA Today/Gallup Poll showed Democrats leading Republicans by 51 percent to 44 percent among likely voters on the “generic vote”—the question of which party voters intend to support in House races—down from a 13-percentage-point advantage two weeks ago. But the newspaper noted Republicans enjoyed a similar 7-point edge on the eve of their 1994 landslide victory.

Strategists sought solace in any survey that looked good, but with less than 48 hours remaining before the polls close on Tuesday, both parties concentrated on direct voter contact, built on months of sophisticated analysis of the electorate and microtargeting of tens of millions of voters around the country.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee expected to spend roughly $25 million on its voter mobilization efforts; the DCCC was set to spend $10 million. The Democratic National Committee has given the other committees about $8 million for get-out-the-vote activities.

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Karl Rove’s Reputation May Be on the Line
_{(ABC NEWS) - Nov. 6, 2006}

If the legacy of President Bush is on the line in this Tuesday’s elections, so too may be the legacy of the man sometimes called “Bush’s Brain.” Karl Rove, the president’s chief political strategist, is trying to win one last — and perhaps most difficult — national election for his old friend.

Rove is revered and reviled. There are documentaries, books, Web sites and even condoms dedicated to him. He was featured on the TV show “South Park” and named the most fascinating person of 2004 by ABC’s Barbara Walters.

Walters asked Rove what he thought his reputation was. “Evil Rasputin,” he told her.

Republican strategist Marc McKinnon knew right away that Rove would be the most famous political consultant in history. “I thought he would five minutes after I met him,” McKinnon said. “He is a walking mainframe computer and the most talented consultant I’ve ever worked with — and I’ve worked with a lot of the best.”

Rove helped pull off surprise victories in 2000, 2002 and 2004 for President Bush, who calls him “boy wonder” and “the architect.” “He’s won three national elections working with Bush. This is the big one, though,” said Mark Halperin, ABC News political director and co-author of “The Way to Win.” “It’s going to determine whether George Bush’s last few years in office can be productive. It’s also going to help determine George Bush’s legacy.”

Democratic strategist James Carville believes Rove’s reputation hangs in the balance. “He wins this, he comes out of this with minimal losses, and his reputation will be cemented in history,” Carville said. “If he comes out of here with some big losses, then you might have Republicans 10 years from now spitting on the legacy of Karl Rove.”

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Posted by The Skipper     on 11/06/2006 at 03:23 AM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias •  
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