Jake Tapper observes that Sarah Palin has Karl Rove-like email habits.
Just a quick word on the alleged push polling of Jewish voters that’s being reported in various quarters.
First let me say that we’ve been as vigilant as anyone over the years in tracking these kinds of subterranean campaign tactics, so we like a good push poll story as much as the next guy.
But the reports that have come in so far suggest that these are not push polls but actual public opinion surveys that are testing negative messages. There’s a difference, not the least of which is that push polls target large numbers of potential voters, just like any other campaign phone bank effort. On the other hand, field testing negative messaging requires only obtaining a representative sample of voters, like any other public opinion survey.
The easiest way to tell which is which is by how long the call lasts. If you’re trying to reach a large number of voters, you keep the calls short and dirty: plant the seed of the smear and move on; otherwise, the costs of phone calls becomes prohibitive. The accounts so far are of calls that last upwards of 15 minutes.
Someone is testing the effect of fear-mongering about Obama on Jewish voters. But it just doesn’t have the markings of a push poll, as that term is usually understood.
Defending her remarks that Sarah Palin is not qualified to run a Fortune 500 company, top McCain adviser and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina says she doesn’t think John McCain (or Obama or Biden) could run a major corporation either.
The Indoor Tanning Association comes to Sarah Palin’s defense (via Yglesias):
While partisan bloggers and the sun scare industry will use this as an opportunity to undermine Gov. Palin and demonize the indoor tanning industry, the fact is that Governor Palin’s decision to get UV light from a tanning bed positively impacts her health.
“Moderate amounts of indoor tanning allow Governor Palin to experience the many health benefits that come with exposure to UV light,” said Dan Humiston, President of the Indoor Tanning Association. “Especially in dreary northern locations like Alaska, indoor tanning can help guard against wintertime depression and ward off diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.”
“Kudos to Governor Palin for standing up to dermatologists and other members of the sun scare industry who are trying to frighten Americans away from UV light.”
Late Update: Hmmm … is the Dan Humiston quoted above also the Dan Humiston (R) who ran for Congress in New York this year? So it appears. (Thanks to TPM Reader JL for the link.)
Terry McAuliffe will be campaigning for Obama across Virginia (where McAuliffe also happens to be considering running for governor).
It seems that with the latest economic meltdown John McCain finally realized he had to start running as a populist. This morning he hit all six network talk shows to share the talking points like so much wealth …
Full-size video at TPMtv.com.
Sarah Palin is having trouble keeping her stories straight about why she fired her public safety director in Trooper-Gate.
At one point, she went so far as to say she hadn’t fired him at all: he’d quit. But now, with help from the McCain campaign, she’s come up with a new justification for what is again being called a firing: insubordination.
And what, you ask, did he do that was supposedly insubordinate? He was too aggressive in trying to go after sex offenders, specifically child molesters. Seriously.
The Republican Jewish Coalition is taking responsibility for those calls to Jewish voters that asked offensive questions about Barack Obama.
Ben Smith reports:
The Republican Jewish Coalition, which is launching a campaign against Obama on behalf of Senator John McCain, sponsored the poll to “understand why Barack Obama continues to have a problem among Jewish voters,” the group’s executive director, Matt Brooks, told Politico. …
“What we did is test, in standard polling methodology, a number of factual issues that have been reported on in the press and are policy positions to see how they’re resonating in the Jewish community,” said Brooks. “The notion that this is a ‘push poll’ is offensive to us.”
Brooks said the RJC, whose board includes advisors and fundraisers for Senator John McCain, had placed 750 calls to Jewish voters in five states: Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
As I said earlier today, this didn’t look like a push poll, although the campaign the RJC launches based on the questions it’s asking may be just as repugnant.
It’s the economy, stupid.
Obama has a new extended TV ad out talking directly to voters on the economy.
Meanwhile, McCain continues with his new-found populist message in a new ad promising financial system reform. (I guess Phil Gramm will oversee that?)
Plus the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.