Category Archives: Politics: US: 2004 Election

My brother's White House Briefing reports today on a 'tidbit' that suggests pretty strongly that the Republicans see Flordia as critical to their re-election, and far from in the bag:

Jackie Calmes has this tidbit in the Wall Street Journal: “Florida's television stations are the big winners in Bush's first campaign advertising blitz, station figures show. The Bush-Cheney re-election committee bought more than $860,000 in that 2000 battleground state — more than double the next-biggest buys in Pennsylvania and Michigan.”

I do think Florida is up for grabs. In other words, I think it's safe to discount the results of this poll showing Bush waaay ahead in Flordia which so upset the Daily Kos team. Indeed, it seems likely that the Republicans' internal polls are not quite that rosy, or they wouldn't be spending the dollars.

I suppose that even if our upcoming primary isn't very meaningful, we will at least have the pleasure of being courted in the general election.

Another reason I'm glad I don't have a TV set:

Bush Re-election Ads to Begin in March: President Bush's re-election campaign will begin running television commercials on March 4, even if the Democrats have not yet settled on a nominee, Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager, said on Sunday.

…

Mr. Bush's campaign managers had expected to wait until the spring or summer before beginning a more active phase of the campaign. But the continuing attacks by Democrats on Mr. Bush's record, along with the president's drop behind Senators John Kerry and John Edwards in recent opinion polls, led them to change the plan.

Saying you are running scared is not the sign of an operation that is doing a good job of staying on message.