More Pre-Debate

Bob Sheiffer of CBS, moderator of the upcoming third debate, was interviewed on Fox Tuesday. He indicated he'll be asking questions on immigration, the "culture issues" and safety from terror, at least two of which should make Bush happy. If only because of oil and gasoline prices, he'll have to ask about energy policy. But it doesn't look like the evening will be spent solely on the big issues of health care, jobs and the deficit.

When it gets to terrorism and the Patriot Act, maybe Kerry should steal a line from Jon Stewart and say, they failed to get Osama bin Laden, but they did get the guy who wrote "Peace Train."

The CV on campaign tactics is that the Bushies are concentrating on their base, while the Kerry campaign is going after undecideds. One pundit says this makes Kerry's debate tasks much harder, because all Bush has to do is repeat liberal, tax and spend, and his stupid "he can run but he can't hide"line, while Kerry has to make a quick case against Bush and pivot to his vision for the future.

We're looking forward to Bush uttering that 'he can run but he can't hide' line and having Kerry look at him and say, you see anybody running? Or trying to hide? I'm standing right here, telling America the truth.

The reason for this different tactical approach is not often discussed however. Could it be that Kerry is confident of his base, knows that in reaching out to other voters he increases the confidence of his base that he can win, and so does both jobs simultaneously? While Bush is just trying to make sure he pushes the right buttons of the people he has no respect for, but counts on for his power?

Within what the pollsters can measure (and it's not clear how much they are missing---maybe a lot) there appears to be but 5% undecided, but maybe 20% who are still persuadable. A poll in PA shows that while supporters of both candidates are locked in, those favoring Kerry are locked in tighter. Because of Kerry's success in the debates so far, it's likely that more persuadables are leaning towards Bush, though clearly the Sinclair people and the Rove ravers are counting on the Swift Boat Liars and things like a whispering campaign against Teresa H. Kerry (which Molly Ivins predicts) to peel away the persuadables leaning towards Kerry. But Kerry's last big chance to get at those persuadables is the third debate. After that, it's one voter at a time, luck and the news.

This is going to be really nerve-wracking because it won't be until the vote count starts that there's any real indication of how powerful this "hidden" Kerry vote is going to be. (The first time voters, new registrations, Latinos, Native Americans, pushed to the edge families of reservists and guard, single low income working women, pissed off Arab-Americans and Cuban Americans, and righteously angry black voters in Florida.) Some people think it's going to be very powerful.

Kerry and Edwards are certainly right that the Bushies will say or do absolutely anything to win. In Florida, unions and others have filed suit against GOPer state government officials for denying registration to thousands on technicalities, and failing to notify them that they are not really registered, as required by law. Now there's a scandal emerging in Nevada, where a former employee claims that a private outfit called Voter Outreach of America, aka America Votes, which purported to register voters at malls and so on, has been throwing out Democratic party registrations, because the company's mission is to register only Republicans. This employee rescued some of the forms discarded, and when they were checked out, those people who thought they'd registered were not on the rolls. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

But it is worth saying to anyone reading this who registered for the first time this year, or changed their registration: be sure to call your local election officials and verify that you are indeed on the registration rolls, so you don't get a nasty surprise on election day.

If you did fill out registration form and you aren't on the rolls, and the date for registration in your state has passed, contact the local Democratic party, and they will likely go to court on your behalf.

UPDATE on the Sinclair airing of the anti-Kerry propaganda: the blogosphere has struck another blow, as advertisers for local Sinclair stations are getting hundreds of phone calls. There are unverified reports of advertisers pulling their ads because of it.

Meanwhile, the pr guy for Sinclair has been calling the attempts to stifle the voices of those aggrieved veterans (who presumably didn't get enough air time with the Swift Boat Liars ads) the equivalent of "Holocaust deniers." And the whole business has drawn attention to what corporate power can really mean now that the Bush FCC has allowed media giants to own more and more TV stations and newspapers. Sinclair is trying to buy more, and therefore has a vested interest in supporting Bush. Which is clearly what they are doing, with a film made by the guy at the Washington Times who published a book whitewashing the Rev. Moon, after getting Moon's approval of the manuscript. Hey, not even Gary Trudeau could make this stuff up.