Both Campaings say they haven't forgotten about Wisconsin

Both candidates have cut spending in Wisconsin and have concentrated their attention on other states. However, Democratic vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, and Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan have both told Wisconsin's Channel 12 that they have not forgotten about Wisconsin.

Duncan said the McCain campaign hasn’t given up on Wisconsin, but that the camp is also competing in Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

“We're still (in Wisconsin) competing, we have our victory offices, we're sending people in, we believe that we're right on the issues, if you look back on the last two presidential campaigns, they've been very close in Wisconsin,” he said.

On the Democratic side, Biden said, "We're not confident, we're hopeful. And that's why we have such a significant ground operation there. We haven't backed off one little bit…and it's all going to get down to this early vote and on election day, Nov. 4, getting the vote out.”

Latest Poll from Rasmussen

Here are the latest numbers from a poll done by Rasmussen of 500 voters on October 23.

Barack Obama: 51%
John McCain: 44%

48 percent of voters agree with Obama's response to "Joe the Plumber" 40 percent disagree with Obama's comments about "spreading the wealth." Obama is viewed favorably by 57 percent of voters to McCain's 51 percent. Obama leads by 13 points among women and by 1 point among men. 65 percent say they expect Obama to win the state, while 24 percent say they expect McCain to win.

Wisconsin Update

Here is the latest news from Wisconsin from AP:

1. Wisconsin Republicans say that their best way to win the state is through a final 72-hour push to get his supporters to vote. The Republicans are sending 150 volunteers from other states to help out in Wisconsin. They will join about 7,000 local volunteers to contact voters as part of what the GOP is calling the "72 Hour Task Force."

2. Governor Doyle said that he spoke to Obama this week and that he promised to deliver the state to the presidential nominee. Doyle's only fear is that Democrats are over confident and wont turn up to vote.

2 More Endorsements for Obama

Two more Wisconsin newspapers have endorsed Barack Obama for president. Here are their names and excerpts from their editorials:

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 

"health care morass threatens pocketbooks and lives. Whether a U.S. Supreme Court tilt becomes more pronounced hangs in balance. Problems abound for any incoming president, including regaining U.S. stature abroad. The Bush Administration has bumbled from crisis to crisis for nearly 8 years, competence gone AWOL. The nation needs resuscitating change like a new baby needs that first breath of air. Two would-be successors pledge it. But Barack Obama is more believable. We recommend him to be the 44th president of the United States."

The Chippewa Herald: 

"Barack Obama has the proper vision of America's role in the world and the role of its government at home to establish sensible policies in these areas. America had widespread sympathy and support around the world after the 9-11 attacks. That support has evaporated due to the policies it has pursued. Obama would be in a position to restore America's credibility among its allies and friends. 

Ariziona Governor Stumps for Obama

Arizona Governor, Democrat Janet Napolitano told Obama volunteers last Thursday that the fight was not over and urged them to shake off overconfidence and "work until it hurts" to win this election.

"Wisconsin last time, the whole difference in the presidential election was two voters per ward--two voters per ward. The last thing we want to have happen is to wake up and find out that McCain narrowly won Wisconsin." she said. 

She continued, "It is possible that Obama can win Arizona, but ultimately that's not what we're depending on. We're depending on states like Wisconsin."

Why Wisconsin is Favoring Obama

With an election that was so close not too long ago, what made Wisconsin voters fall in the direction of Obama? The answer is the economy. 

The tough economic situation has obviously been hard on McCain not just in Wisconsin, but all over the nation. The truth is: people don't want to vote in an incumbent when the economy is in trouble. 

These are the sentiments in Wisconsin, where the people's main concern is the economy and jobs. A recent report by VOA News looks at politics through the eyes of the people of Janesville, Wisconsin, home to a GM plant. 

This plant, which has been around 90 years, has been home to thousands of workers. However, this December, General Motors will close the plant.

Not only will thousands of jobs of people working in the plant be affected, but another 6000 jobs in the community are expected to be lost. Examples like this show why Wisconsin workers are concerned about who will be our country's leader the next four years. Some people believe Obama can do the job, while others believe McCain can. However, situations like this seem to favor Obama, since he is the challenger this election season.

In fact Obama even tapped into this particular plant earlier this year, saying, "If our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another hundred years."

Wisconsin Republican Party's New Obama-Ayers Mailer

The Wisconsin GOP is trying to heat things up by sending out mailers linking Barack Obama to 1960s radical William Ayers.

Ayers was a founder of the Weather Underground, a group that claimed responsibility for a series of nonfatal bombings.

It provides a brief history of Ayers' radical activities, claims he and Obama are friends and warns Obama is "not who you think he is."
The mailer also includes a 2001 quote from Ayers saying he doesn't regret the bombings. But the quote was placed next to a picture of Obama and not attributed to Ayers.

The flier provides a brief history of Ayers' radical acticities along with some pictures. It also claims he and Obama are friends and warns that Obama is "not who you think he is." A quote from Ayers is also included in which he says that he doesn't regret the bombings.

Wisconsin Republican Party Spokeswoman, Kirsten Kukowski, defended the mailing, saying, "We're not calling Barack Obama a terrorist," she said. "We never have and never will. He is not. The mailer was just a small part of the party's overall message."

10 Days To Go!

With ten days to go until the election, it looks as if Wisconsin will go to Obama.

While in the past, the elections have been extremely close (Kerry and Gore won by 1 percent in the past two elections), they have, in the end, gone Democratic. Earlier in the election process, there was a lot of hope for Republicans to win the state. Republicans surged in the polls after the convention, probably due to the introduction of Sarah Palin. Obama and McCain were neck in neck post-RNC. However, the fall of the economy has been hard on McCain and his numbers in the polls have been dropping in Wisconsin. While there are many different polls with different numbers, I am going to use numbers from Pollster.com, which currently has Obama with 51 percent and McCain with 41 percent.

Both campaigns have been focusing heavily on Wisconsin, holding rallies all over the state. Obama spent $185,000 on TV in Wisconsin to McCain's $60,000, which gives him a huge edge. Also, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has spent an a comsiderable amount of time campaigning for Obama. The Wisconsin State Journal has also endorsed Obama.

Governor Doyle Campaigns for Obama

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has made himself a regular on the Wisconsin election scene, campaigning regularly for Barack Obama. 

His next stop: Working the college vote at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

Doyle urged the 120 students who came to hear him speak to vote early so they would be able to volunteer at the polls on election day. He stressed the importance of voter turnout, because higher turnout benefits Democrats. 

"Obama started the race for president based on two principle causes," Doyle said. "He is seeking to bring "fundamental change" to america and run a campaign that brings people together instead of dividing them." 

And yet...another poll

A new poll was released by St. Norbert College Survey Center showing Obama with a lead of 51 percent to McCain;s 38 percent. The poll of 400 likely voters was taken from October 9 until October 17. There is a margin of error of +/- 5 points. 

McCain did better when it came to the Iraq war and national security, but Obama did better when it came to health care, taxes, the economy, energy, dealing with financial crisis, bringing change to Washington, understanding what's important to average Americans and handling "an unexpected major crisis." 

56 percent of voters said they don't think Sarah Palin has what it takes to be president, while 70 percent said they believed Joe Biden does have what it takes to be president.

8 percent said the country is going in the right direction. 

Obama focusing less on Wisconsin, more on Red States

Wisconsin is always a hotspot during election season because, while it has traditionally gone Democratic, it is always be extremely close margins--these past two elections were particularly close. 

Now that Obama feels he has Wisconsin in his hands, he is moving on...to Red States! The democratic nominees wants to win some states that George Bush took in 2004. He has already made a stop in Virginia and cancelled his Madison stop today, replacing it with a stop in Indiana, before heading to Hawaii.  

How has Obama been able to be so competitive in these red states? Money. His campaign has way overspent McCain's in advertising, to his favor.

Monday alone, Obama spent $185,000 on TV in Wisconsin to McCain's $60,000. This, of course, is not a red state but this pattern of spending is echoed throughout the country. 

McCain Campaign hasn't visited Wisconsin in 2 weeks, so College Republicans are taking over!

As McCain's numbers begin to slide in Wisconsin, Madison College Republicans are starting to work on more local races like the state Assembly. 

College Republicans' chair Sara Mikolajzak said that by keeping the state Assembly under Republican control, they can keep the liberal agenda out of Wisconsin. 

Also important to Mikolajzak: showing that there is a strong support base for presidential nominee, McCain.

The McCain campaign has not visited Wisconsin in two weeks, as polls show Obama leading in the state.

"The McCain campaign is doing what it needs to do to secure votes, so if he needs to be in Pennsylvania, then he needs to be in Pennsylvania. He is doing what he needs to do." Mikolajczak said. 

To 

Obama unleashing robocalls attacking McCain's campaign

The Obama Campaign unleashed a robocall in Wisconsin today that attacks the McCain campaign. It features a small business owner from Green Bay, who says she's been turned against McCain by his "sleazy" roboslime campaign against Obama.

Ironic that they are using robocalls to combat robocalls?

Here is a script from the Obama campaign's robocall:

Hi, this is Jeri Watermolen, calling for the Campaign for Change. I live in Green Bay and, like you, I've been getting sleazy phone calls and mail from John McCain and his supporters viciously -- and falsely -- attacking Barack Obama. I used to support John McCain because he honorably served our country -- but this year he's running a dishonorable campaign. We know McCain will continue many of Bush's policies, and now he's using George Bush's divisive tactics. In fact, he hired the Bush strategists whose attacks even McCain once called hateful.
Barack Obama will turn the page on these negative politics and stand up for the middle class. That's the change we need, and it's why I have changed my mind about John McCain. Join me in voting for Barack Obama. Paid for the Campaign for Change, a project of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, 608-255-5172, and authorized by Obama for America.

New Poll

In a recent poll done by SurveyUSA, Obama leads McCain 51 percent to 43 percent. The poll surveyed 641 likely voters in Wisconsin. The margin of error ir plus or minus four.

This is a smaller margin than other recent polls, although it's almost identical to the one done by SurveyUSA in October.

SurveyUSA said that "Obama remains well positioned to pick-up 10 electoral votes" and offered these breakdowns:

"Obama leads among women, is tied among men ... McCain runs well among those who do consider the USA to be a Super Power, who do not consider themselves to be an intellectual, who do own a gun, who are pro-life. Independents and Moderates break heavily for Obama."

Obama Cancels Madison Appearance

Barack Obama was supposed to make a stop in Madison for a rally on Thursday, but is now canceling it so he can visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii. 

Wisconsin campaign spokesperson Matt Lehrich said he couldn't rule out a later Obama visit before the Nov. 4 election but that there was nothgin concrete as of late Monday. 

Is Wisconsin Winnable for McCain?

The Republican National Committee is pulling presidential ads in Wisconsin and Maine to focus on more Republican states where McCain may have some trouble.

While this is significant, this doesn't mean that the GOP has pulled out of Wisconsin completely. The McCain campaign plans to buy airtime until at least October 26.

The real question is "Is Wisconsin Winnable for McCain or should he pull out completely?"

According to Charles Franklin of pollster.com, McCain should give up Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and spend his time on Ohio and Flordia, states where he trails, but still has a chance of winning.

When you're down as far as he is, you have to pursue a minimum winning strategy. The best way to do to get that minimum is red states," Franklin said in an interview. "There's always a chance they know something that's happening internally in those states," he says, referring to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but "I think the data is pretty compelling."

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is still going strong in Wisconsin. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusets rallied for Obama in Madison alongside Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin.

While the outcome looks encouraging in Wisconsin for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the hardest work still lies ahead of us. Wisconsin is a battle ground state,” Baldwin said. “In the past two presidential elections, our state was decided by less than 1 percent of the vote.”

According to pollster.com, Obama leads with 50.7 percent to McCain's 42.6 percent.

Obama wants Wisconsin supporters to vote early

On a video clip emailed to supporters in Wisconsin, Obama urged his supporters to go ahead and vote. 

"Voting is easy in Wisconsin. You can go do it today. Just go to your local clerk's office. You can vote today even if you've never voted before, even if you've never registered before," Obama said in the video.

This effort is part of the Obama campaign's push to get supporters to vote before election day. Absentee voting started in Wisconsin last week. 

Obama supporter Cass Hanson voted at the Madison clerk's office Monday when a friend who works for the campaign told her the lines would be long on Election day. "I had to change my address anyway, so I figured I might as well vote," she said.

McCain is also doing his best to try and get his supporters to vote early by sending out tens of thousands of postcards containing instructions on absentee voting. 

City Clerks expect there to be much more early voting than last year.

In other news, the Wisconsin State Journal, the state's second largest newspaper, is backing Barack Obama for president. 

In an editorial published Sunday, the paper said Obama is the best leader to make America feel good about itself again and to improve relations with other countries.

In the 2004 election, the paper backed George W. Bush. 

McCain Supporters want him to "take it to" Obama!

At a town hall in Waukesha, WI, John McCain and Sarah Palin were met by supporters urging them to "take it to" Obama.

The crowd was cleary angry at Obama and wanted to push McCain to step up and be more forceful when communicating with and about him.

What, specifically, does the crowd want to hear from McCain? They want him to harp on Obama's associations with people like Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

One African-American man told McCain he doubts anyone in the crowd had taken the “ass whipping” he had for supporting the Republican nominee. He told McCain that the upcoming Oct. 15 debate was vital and pushed him to hit Obama in his “soft spots” such as ACORN and Wright. “I’m begging you, sir. I’m begging you. Take it to him,” the man said to wild applause from the crowd.

McCain promised he would do this but quickly changed the subject back to the economic crisis.

McCain received another question, asking “We’re all wondering why Obama is where he’s at, how he got here. Everybody in this room is stunned we’re in this position. We’re all a product of our association. Is there not a way to get around this media and line up people that he has hung with?”

Another questioner told McCain he was mad about “the socialists taking over our country,” including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "When you have an Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there gonna run this country, we gotta have our head examined,” the man said. “It's time that you two are representing us, and we are mad. So go get 'em!"

Following the rally, Dem Gov. Jim Doyle addressed a crowd of 100 Obama supporters at a counter rally at the senator’s campaign office in Waukesha. “Two candidates in Waukesha County have decided to do anything they can to try and distract the people of Wisconsin from what the real issues are in this campaign,” Doyle said. “Rarely has a campaign revealed itself as clearly as the McCain campaign did, where one of their leading spokespeople a few days ago declared that ‘if this campaign is about the economy, we’re going to lose.’

Latest Poll Results

Things are not looking good for John McCain. While polls were getting tighter earlier in the week, they have now gone way in Obama's favor, giving Obama a double digit lead. Here are the results from a poll conducted by Research 2000 on October 5-6. They surveyed 600 people from Wisconsin, with a margin of error of +/- 4.

WH '08 General Election Matchup-

All Men Wom 9/25
Obama/Biden: 51% 46% 56% 49%
McCain/Palin : 41% 46% 36% 43%

Who Do You Trust More To Handle The Economy?

B. Obama: 57%
J. McCain: 31%
Undecided: 12%

McCain: Working Wisconsin

Since pulling efforts out of Michigan, John McCain is working hard to gain some ground in some other important battleground states, one being Wisconsin.

McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, are coming to Waukesha, Wisconsin on Thursday morning for a a town hall. McCain will then hold a rally that afternoon in Wausau. These appearances will come only 2 days after McCain's debate with Obama, which is scheduled for tonight in Nashville, Tennessee.

Friday, McCain will then head over to LaCrosse, where he will hold a 9 am rally. LaCrosse is located in one of 8 very important counties in Wisconsin that the candidates are needing to focus on in order to win the state.

The LaCrosse Tribue asked readers what they would ask the presidential nominees in tonight's debate. This gives a good idea of what the the Wisconsin voters are looking for in a president. Here is a link to the article.

While McCain is working hard to win the state, polls show Obama is gaining ground. In a recent poll of 859 likely voters in Wisconsin, Obama had 51 percent while McCain had 46 percent, with a margin of error of 3.5. This poll's findings put Wisconsin as "leaning Obama" rather than a toss up. However, this is just one poll.

McCain Pulls out of Michigan, Steps up efforts in Wisconsin

The McCain camp has announced they are pulling resources out of Michigan and moving them into Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Maine.

Michigan was one of five blue states that McCain was after. The others include Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Hampshire. McCain needs to win a couple of blue states since it is looking as if Obama may win some important red states.

"Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are two states we feel very strongly about and two states that would be key to putting us toward 270 electoral votes, "said McCain political director Mike Duhaime.

However, McCain faces some obstacles.

First, Obama is way outspending him in Wisconsin and in other key states. Between Sept. 16 and 29, Obama outspent McCain on TV in Wisconsin by almost 2-to-1, according to figures provided by a northern Virginia firm that monitors political advertising, TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG. Obama spent $1,254,281 on local broadcast stations in the state, while McCain spent $657,923.

Also, Barack Obama has made gains in the polls in recent weeks. In Wisconsin, Obama was leading by 2 to 4 percent in early September. But Thursday, the Atlanta firm of Strategic Vision had Obama up by 9 percent in Wisconsin, at 49-40. Two other recent polls confirmed that Obama was gaining ground here.

Email Warns Voters: Do Not Wear Obama Gear on Election Day

The Wisconsin Democratic Party is trying to expose a false email, claiming that people who wear Obama buttons, hats, or t-shirts will not be allowed to vote!

The Democratic Party spokesman, Alec Loftus, said Tuesday that party activists have reported receiving the email and have sent messages to thousands of democrats, warning them the email, which is being spread through the social networking site, Facebook, is false.

"Voting is fundamental," he wrote. "You have the right to vote; don't let anyone tell you differently."

The email warns that people wearing paraphernalia were campaigning illegally and those that were doing it would be turned away. This, however, is untrue. What is not allowed is creating disturbances on polling sites. It's up to the chief election inspector at each polling place to determine what creates a disturbance.

Obama and McCain Need to Focus on Western Wisconsin

Both John McCain and Barack Obama need to do well with independent voters in eight counties which border Minnesota.

Voters in these counties have voted for John Kerry and Al Gore in the past two elections but tend to vote Republicans into the state legislature and local offices. For example, Republicans have been elected into nine of the 15 legislative districts covering the 11 counties.

These areas are agricultural based. On economic issues, voters tend to be more liberal while on social issues, they tend to be more conservative.

"My advice to McCain is to be himself," Republican strategist Mark Graul said. "He is the exact kind of maverick reformer candidate that western Wisconsin likes. I think they saw President Bush as a little bit more standard Republican and certainly John McCain isn't that."

Obama's Wisconsin spokesman Phil Walzak said independent voters are looking for a new way of doing business in Washington and that's why Obama is a better pick for western Wisconsin than McCain, who's been in Congress for 26 years.

Obama made a stop in one of these counties, in the city of La Crosse, on Wednesday. The city of about 52,000, is home to a University of Wisconsin campus and a student population Obama has been playing well with across the country. At this stop, Obama made a speech which called for swift action on a rescue plan for the nation's financial sector. He declared the crisis"an outrage" caused by "the greed and irresponsibility that has dominated Washington and Wall Street for years."

McCain's also made a stop in this are of Wisconsin. He held a women's-only business summit in the city of Hudson, just across the river from Minneapolis-St. Paul. He also stopped briefly in nearby Eau Claire.

Along with western Wisconsin, other swing parts of the state are Green Bay and the Fox Valley in the northeast and the suburbs of Milwaukee.