Did Obama Just Throw The Entire Election Away? -- The Daily Beast, Andrew Sullivan

[bsteadman1]

Did Obama Just Throw The Entire Election Away?

The Daily Beast
Andrew Sullivan
10/8/2012

Excerpt:

The Pew poll is devastating, just devastating. Before the debate, Obama had a 51 - 43 lead; now, Romney has a 49 - 45 lead. That's a simply unprecedented reversal for a candidate in October. Before Obama had leads on every policy issue and personal characteristic; now Romney leads in almost all of them. Obama's performance gave Romney a 12 point swing! I repeat: a 12 point swing.

Romney's favorables are above Obama's now. Yes, you read that right. Romney's favorables are higher than Obama's right now. That gender gap that was Obama's firewall? Over in one night:

Currently, women are evenly divided (47% Obama, 47% Romney). Last month, Obama led Romney by 18 points (56% to 38%) among women likely voters.

Seriously: has that kind of swing ever happened this late in a campaign? Has any candidate lost 18 points among women voters in one night ever? And we are told that when Obama left the stage that night, he was feeling good. That's terrifying. On every single issue, Obama has instantly plummeted into near-oblivion. He still has some personal advantages over Romney - even though they are all much diminished. Obama still has an edge on Medicare, scores much higher on relating to ordinary people, is ahead on foreign policy, and on being moderate, consistent and honest (only 14 percent of swing voters believe Romney is honest). But on the core issues of the economy and the deficit, Romney is now kicking the president's ass:

By a 37% to 24% margin, more swing voters say Romney would improve the job situation. Swing voters favor Romney on the deficit by a two-to-one (41% vs. 20%) margin.... Romney has gained ground on several of these measures since earlier in the campaign. Most notably, Obama and Romney now run even (44% each) in terms of which candidate is the stronger leader. Obama held a 13-point advantage on this a month ago. And Obama’s 14-point edge as the more honest and truthful candidate has narrowed to just five points. In June, Obama held a 17-point lead as the candidate voters thought was more willing to work with leaders from the other party. Today, the candidates run about even on this (45% say Obama, 42% Romney).

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View the complete article at:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast....tion-away.html

[bsteadman]

The Media Right And The Dish

The Daily Beast
Andrew Sullivan
10/10/2012

A few thoughts on the sudden attention this blog has gotten from the rightwing blogosphere. Drudge is Drudge. He does sometimes link to me, and has had me on his blog-roll for years (we were roughly the only two people on the planet live-blogging the 2000 election campaign and are both unrepentant, obsessive Petheads). But of course, the big love comes when I give Obama a tongue-lashing (which I've done several times in the past few years). And, of course, it's all part of the fun and games of the web that linkage is used a lot of the time for mockery or drama. Hence my Moore and Malkin and Hewitt Awards.

But I also have an Yglesias Award and often link to those on the US right making a decent point, sometimes in contention with the Republican consensus and brutal partisan discipline. And while a few pro-Romney columnists capable of attacking their own preferred candidate - Noonan comes to mind with her recent comments on the "rolling calamity" of the Romney campaign - I cannot imagine a pro-Romney blog doing what I just did to Obama.

They infer that I've given up or turned on him or whatever. And, yes, I am prone to drama, but have safeguards against it - we made sure to run dissents all day yesterday, and the Dish team's mission is to push back at me, not echo me. I just want to reiterate a few things: that I still firmly believe it is essential for global stability and economic recovery that Obama be re-elected; that his record is about as good as anyone could expect given the circumstances; and that I have seen the alternative to him lie and shape-shift so much in the last couple of weeks, he is even less principled and more ruthless than I feared.

Obama let him get away with it for one devastating night. The Dish won't for a second from now until the election. I haven't given up. I've just been given an electric prod to get back into the arena. And fight back.

View the complete article at:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast....-the-dish.html