Last moves and stories

1. Where are the candidates right now? 

These last campaign stops clearly indicate what the key states are and which might make the election. For instance McCain has been travelling in Virginia, a State that has not voted for a Democratic President for 44 years, but that might go either way this year and that the Republicans are wary of loosing. The state of Pennsylvania is also attracting a lot of visits from the Republican team, since, as I have mentionned in an earlier post, it is a critical battleground state. 

No Republican President won the election without taking Ohio; and both campaigns are now canvassing the state in an effort to get the vote out and convince the undecided.

The Republicans are concentrating their attention on states with a strong working class population and where Obama didn't fare very well in the primaries, hoping to pick up disgruntled Clinton supporters.

The Guardian offered two maps showing the past week's campaign stops of both candidates : 

A. Both campaigns visited : Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina and of course Florida, a key state for the Republicans if their is one. 

B. In addition Obama or Biden also visited Nevada, Colorado and Iowa. 

Excepting Pennsylvania these states were all won by George W Bush in 2004. Obama is trying to ratchet up support in traditionnally "red" states while the McCain campaign is mostly playing defense. 

2. Obama's aunt living illegally in Boston has not become a big story, although all the networks are covering it as a "non-story"!?!

3. Before the campaign is over, time for a laugh.  Watch this video of John McCain and Tina Fay playing Sarah Palin pretending to try and raise money. This is from Saturday Night Live, a comedy show that you have probably heard of : 

-  reference to campaign costs (the $150,000 spent on Palin's attire)

-  reference to Palin "going rogue" : I recommend watching Jon Stewart's explanation for this one, a good summary of the mainstream media's hysteria over Palin's unplanned/unscripted comments on various issues: 

For more hilarious videos : Palin playing herself and confusing people at the studio of Saturday Night Live; McCain presenting his new strategies...

Jon Stewart's take on Obama's infomercial is quite good too: watch.