Trailhead : 08 election

Swift Boat Watch: WakeUpWalMart.com

Abby Callard — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:13:00 GMT

See all Swift Boat Watch entries here.

Who They Are: WakeUpWalMart.com

Purpose: To change Wal-Mart's business strategy and the way the corporation treats employees. In this election, they oppose John McCain.

Campaign Director: Meghan Scott

Funding: United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

Where It Ran: Aired three times during the vice-presidential debate on CNN and MSNBC in Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Related Groups: UFCW

Claims: 1.6 million women are charging Wal-Mart with pay discrimination. When equal-pay legislation came to the Senate, McCain "helped defeat it."

Accuracy: In the largest class action suit to date, 1.6 million women sued Wal-Mart for discrimination regarding pay and promotions in 2004. McCain opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in April that would have made it easier for people to sue their employees on the basis of discrimination. McCain did not vote on the bill but voiced his opposition on the campaign trail.

Background: UFCW created the group in 2005 to directly challenge Wal-Mart. Although the group has aired one previous ad attacking McCain's economic plan, it has focused almost exclusively on Wal-Mart in the past. According to the Federal Election Commission, UFCW has spent $596,570 in support of Obama so far this election cycle.

Swift Boat Rating: 0 boats

The facts in the ad are all correct: 1.6 million women sued Wal-Mart, and McCain opposed the bill that would have made it easier for women to sue employers on the basis of discrimination.

Swift Boat Watch: Citizens for Open and Responsive Government

Abby Callard — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:10:00 GMT

See all Swift Boat Watch entries here.

Who They Are: Citizens for Open and Responsive Government

Purpose: To combat what they see as unfair attacks on candidates or unacceptable campaign activity. The group has opposed state-level Republican candidates in the past, but in this presidential election they support McCain.

Director: Carlton Saffa

Funding: Small individual donations.

Cost of the Ad: Prefer not to release.

Where It Ran: Colorado, Sept. 22-26

Related Groups: None

Claims: John McCain cannot use a keyboard or computer because of war injuries sustained in Vietnam. This is in response to the Obama campaign’s "Still" ad, which mocks McCain’s inability to use a computer or send an e-mail. The spot also quotes Joe Biden calling the initial Obama ad “terrible.”

Accuracy: The claim that McCain cannot use a computer because of his war injuries isn’t entirely true. In an interview with the New York Times, McCain said he is learning how to use a computer, which suggests he can use one, at least to a limited extent. (Plus, many people physically worse-off than McCain manage to use computers.) Biden did call the ad “terrible,” but later issued a follow-up statement saying that he had been reacting to press accounts without actually seeing the ad.

Background: Saffa says CORG decided to film the ad because it felt the issue was being ignored by the mainstream media. Lt. Col. Mike Fairhead, the veteran in the video, was also injured in the Vietnam War.

Swift Boat Rating:

Using a veteran who also sustained war injuries is a bit melodramatic. Does he even know McCain? Obama’s ad did mock John McCain’s inability to use a computer, but it didn’t mock his disabilities. The ad was using his computer illiteracy, along with other examples, to argue that McCain is out of touch with Americans.

You Must Have Your Phaser on a High Setting, Because You Are Stunning!

Christopher Beam — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:01:00 GMT

We first observed Hillary Clinton’s uncanny resemblance to a Star Trek character at last night’s debate. But Slate’s John Swansburg was the one who nailed it: She’s The Next Generation’s Tasha Yar. Behold:

Update 5:44 p.m.: Don't forget, Hillary isn't the only candidate with a celebrity doppelganger.

The New Success

Christopher Beam — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:07:00 GMT

A few years ago, the Boston Globe Magazine declared billion the new million. Previously unimaginable, it was the new yardstick of an expanding society—the new standard for what it takes to make you say whoa.

Now the same spirit of growth has pervaded the Democratic contest, which often resembles an arms race more than a political race. Fundraising is booming, crowds are swelling, and YouTube has raised the bar for what makes a successful campaign video.

Here are some of the new benchmarks, falling short of which now constitutes failure:

Fundraising: $1 million a day ($32 million a month)

Crowd size: 20,000

Margin of victory (primary): double digits

Margin of victory (caucus): fourfold

New superdelegates: 2 a day

Superdelegates stolen from opponent: 1 a week

Campaign stops: 12 a day

Conference calls held with reporters: 4 a day

Debates demanded: 1 a week.

Facebook friends: 588,537

Full-time familial surrogates: 2

YouTube views for campaign ad: 465,000

YouTube views for attack ad: 4.6 million

Songs about candidate: 3 a week

Clothing designs: 1

Internet memes: 1 an hour

Day on which you’ll be ready to lead: 1

The PR Battle Over PR

Christopher Beam — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:03:00 GMT

Barack Obama’s campaign announced today the endorsement of Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, pretty clearly timed to showcase Obama’s appeal to Hispanics as the Texas primary looms.

But it also highlights the role Puerto Rico will play on June 7 as the last Democratic primary contest. If the race for delegates remains neck and neck, people might be tempted to look at the battle over Puerto Rico’s 63 delegates as a deciding factor in the war for the nomination.

But in reality, the PR caucuses (they might switch to a primary last-minute if they want to boost turnout) aren’t going to change much. For one thing, delegates are allocated proportionally, as in other Democratic primaries. Various pundits have floated the notion that Puerto Rico will be a winner-take-all showdown. But that theory has been summarily debunked. (What happened was, the island voted so late in the 2000 and 2004 Democratic primaries that only one candidate was left on the ballot, making it de facto winner-take-all.)

What’s more, even on the spectrum of proportionally allocated contests, Puerto Rico is likely to be closer than most. Remember how districts with an even number of delegates almost always split in half? Well, Puerto Rico has eight districts, and all but one of them have an even number of delegates. (The 2008 numbers haven’t been finalized; apparently Puerto Rico will be getting a “bonus” of three more district delegates.) That means that unless one candidate scores a landslide victory, the 36 district delegates will split more or less evenly. Same with the territory’s 12 at-large delegates and seven PLEOs, all of which are also allocated proportionally. Clinton and Obama are close among superdelegates, too: Three have sided with Hillary; one with Obama.

In other words, Puerto Rico is bound to be a wash. Of course, that doesn't mean there won't be room for hard-hitting, on-scene reporting from the beach.

Enthusiasm Gap (x20)

Chadwick Matlin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:16:00 GMT

We knew the Democrats were more excited about their nomination race, but the Republicans' apathy reached new lows in Washington, D.C.

With 88 percent of the precincts reporting, the Democratic turnout is 102,783, while the Republican turnout is ~~9,456~~* 5,127. (There are about 29,000 registered Republicans in the city, overall.) These numbers will change as the rest of the precincts report, but the ratio probably will not. More than 10* 20 times the number of Democrats came to the polls than Republicans. Ten point eight* That's twenty Democrats for every one Republican, to be exact. In the 2004 general election, John Kerry outdrew George Bush 10-to-1. The city-wide ratio is estimated at around 10-to-1, as well.

UPDATE 10:55 p.m.: I originally miscalculated the number of Republicans who voted, and therefore the ratio of Democrats-to-Republicans.