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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Is it over?

The news media is spreading the story that the election is over and Obama has won. Who knows? Maybe they are correct. I do not buy it, however. Sure, Obama is ahead and has grabbed leads in many of the critical swing states. Nevertheless, there is still a clear path for McCain to win. Simply put, the question of the week is how many of the voters who pay no attention to the election until the end of the cycle will stick with Obama.

The use of Joe the Plumber may seem like overkill to those who watch the Republicans mention him again and again. Still, Obama's spread the wealth comment can be made to hurt him substantially. McCain needs to enunciate his own economic plan as one which will spread opportunity around so that all Americans have the ability through hard work and some luck to get rich. This is the traditional Republican message. At the same time, Obama should be portrayed as a sort of bizarre Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to the government. Equality of wealth will be achieved by Obama by making everyone poor. This has always been the result of socialist and communist policies which sound a lot like what Obama is now talking about.

Most Americans would like to be rich. This is not some exciting revalation, it is an obvious fact. those who think that they have a chance will not want to let the government prevent them from doing so. Indeed, it is interesting to see that Obama consistently does better among those who have already achieved their goals of wealth than among those who are still struggling to amass wealth. Those who already have money feel that they will be able to keep it no matter what Obama does. Those who are pushing for it (a much larger group) do not want anyone standing in their way.

If McCain can clearly enunciate this message and if there is no other October surprise, he may be able to pull in enough votes to still win this election.

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