POLITICS ISN'T BRAIN SURGERY: MCCAIN

One important thing all admirers of John McCain can do is to contribute to his campaign. If you can donate $250, please do so. Or, if you can contribute $25, please do it. The Democrat's presumptive nominee, Obama, has been raising huge amounts of money from Moveon.org types, and it's essential that we help put John McCain on a more level financial footing. You can contribute by clicking on the Contribute to John McCain link to your right (at the top) or by going to the McCain web site and clicking on the "contribute" button. Thanks for your generous help.

Note: If you're from Pennsylvania, please go here to see my blog dedicated to the Keystone State. If you're from Ohio or New Jersey, please click on those links to find blogs dedicated to the McCain effort in those states. If you're from Oklahoma or New Mexico, click on those sites. In time, there will be blogs from each of the 50 states (listed as http://[statename]forjohnmccain.blogspot.com.

There's a need for volunteers to manage state blogs that are "waiting" for someone to take over. If you do assume that responsibility, you will receive all the help you need.

As a rough guess, there are about 35 million voters out there who are (or soon will be) strongly for John McCain. If each one who solidly backs McCain "teaches one," McCain would get 70 million votes, which would make him a winner. Frankly, everyone has a family member, or friend, or neighbor who can be brought into the McCain camp. It's that simple.

If people know you strongly support the Senator, then other people are more likely to follow your lead.

(More to come Thursday afternoon. Please read the columns below about John McCain and this probable opponent, Barack Obama, in the general election.)

On The NYT's Smear Campaign Against McCain

From: [Political Analyst] Aaron Rizzio, Subject: Gloves off at NYT

[Reporter] Jim Rutenberg had been shopping this story around furiously to the New Republic and Drudge Report since late last year after the NYT initially refused to run with it. Drudge, apparently on the Romney payroll at the time, ran a teaser item on it on 12-20. What precisely has been developed since [NYT Editor] Keller spiked the apparent dead-end story last year is a question he should be prepared to answer. What we have are 2 apparently disgruntled anonymous former McCain staffers (who are they? were they terminated? who are they working for now?). This could end up being a good thing for several reasons 1.) if it ultimately goes nowhere and Keller takes institutional flak for running such a smarmy and sloppy hit piece on McCain he is effectively immunized against such weakly sourced rumor and innuendo going forward. 2.) It wakes team McCain up to the reality that indeed the NYT is not their friend and they cannot rely on the institutional "msm" to carry water for them here on out for the duration of the campaign. 3.) The NYT has really, really, lowered the bar for future hit pieces on Obama in this campaign cycle (from what promises to be a cornucopia of potential source material); although I wouldn't count on the NYT running any anonymously sourced hearsay accusations of Barack Obama smoking crack behind garbage dumpsters anytime soon. I like this line "even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee". You mean like Tom Daschle former Senate Maj Leader (and Obama backer) who's wife lobbyed against secured airline cockpit bulkheads prior to 9/11? That kind of thing?http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0201.mencimer.html

CAN MCCAIN WIN "BATTLEGROUND STATES?"

On CNN (3:40 ET on Tuesday) Carl Berstein just said that the Clinton Campaign is portraying Obama as "an empty suit with great lungs." In this regard, John McCain can learn from Hillary -- and vice versa. Obama's "message of Hope" is a bumper sticker, not a vision for the country. Mrs. Clinton's strategy is to establish Obama not as a JFK-style visionary but rather as a windbag.

The example of New Jersey . . .

On the state blogs for McCain front, I'm managing the Pennsylvania site -- and I'd very much like so co-managers. It's not a lot of work, but it is a great deal of fun -- and it's for a very good cause, ensuring the election of John McCain.

I'm TEMPORARILY managing the Ohio and New Jersey sites until we can find full-time managers for those sites. If you'd like to volunteer or recommend someone, please do so either in the comments section or by e-mailing me at: TalkTop65@aol.com.

On the Garden State site today, I asked a fundamental question: Can McCain actually win a state like New Jersey? McCain has said he wants to pursue a 50-state strategy, competing in every one of them. I'm very much in favor of that approach.

New Jersey is a fascinating case. In 2000, George W. Bush got skunked there by Al Gore. The latter got 56% of the vote and GWB got 40%. In 2004, Kerry won the state, but only by 53% to 46%. In politics, 45% or more are the magic numbers, meaning that in a future race a state might just be winnable.The following are excerpts from what I told the New Jerseyites:

New Jersey for McCain? Here! (link to the entire piece)

Can John McCain actually win New Jersey? I sure hope so.

As some of you will remember from the 2004 election, George Bush started to get close to Kerry -- to the point that the Vice President paid a late visit to Jersey. To win in NJ, a candidate must draw many votes from Independents -- and some votes from Democrats.

The registration figures suggest that a strong Republican candidate with great appeal to Independents and Democrats -- that is, McCain -- can in fact prevail in New Jersey. Yes, there are 1,150,000 registered Democrats to just 890,000 Republicans (according to The Almanac of American Politics). However, there's an amazing 2.8 million "others," 56% of the total. (The registration percentages in New Hampshire are somewhat similar.)

If Senator McCain can win a good majority of those "others," he can carry the state. McCain is not going to be able to outspend his Democratic opponent (probably Barack Obama, but possibly Hillary Clinton). However, as his campaign so far shows, he will outwork them.

To win, he needs a massive number of voluteers around the country. You can be one of those volunteers by taking over this blog. As the old saying goes, "If you not, who? If not now, when?"

If you're interested in volunteering [for NJ or another state] or would like to suggest a name, please e-mail me at: TalkTop65@aol.com -- or leave a message in the comments section. Thanks for visiting!Note: I hope you'll visit the operating state blogs, including Oklahoma and New Mexico. Please leave comments. John McCain will win because of efforts of people who are just like you.

Note: If you live in Wisconsin or Washington State, please vote today for John McCain! (We need blog volunteers from both states.)

State Blogs: Million-Vote Project

Why "independent" state blogs? Because people operating independently can accomplish a lot more than official sites, especially in the earlier stages of a campaign. The state blogs mentioned are not under the administrative or ideological control of the offical McCain effort (which you're also encouraged to join) or of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

These blogs should be places where all McCain supporters -- Republicans, conservatives, moderates, and, especially, Independents and Democrats, feel comfortable. That's often not the case when the RNC exerts control.

Also, independents can accomplish more than people who are part of an official structure. I mentioned the independent Democrat, a college student, who started the Obama MySpace site. He ended up, working with other students, getting 160,000 "friends" for Obama. Those people were a crucial element in Obama's wildly successful online fundraising.

The people volunteering to manage or otherwise participate in the state blogs are capable of similar achievements, and the only instruction they will receive is the suggestion that they "go for it." Use your own creativity and imagination to make sure your state goes for McCain.

(I'll say more about this subject, but for now, I urge you to read the column(s) below.)


Note: I put the following post up today on http://pennsylvaniaforjohnmccain.blogspot.com. Click on that link and you'll find some additional information about the Pennsylvania effort.

The state blogs and "The Million Vote Project" began this past weekend and is progressing nicely. We now have blog managers at
http://pennsylvaniaforjohnmccain.blogspot.com;
http://newmexicoforjohnmccain.blogspot.com;
http://oklahomaforjohnmccain.blogspot.com;
http://texasforjohnmccain.blogspot.com.

Within the next week, there should be several more states represented.

Clearly, we need you and others like you to volunteer to manage (or co-manage) these state blogs for McCain. If you'd like to volunteer or suggest a name of someone who would like to do so, please either use the comments section or e-mail me: TalkTop65@aol.com. Serving as a manager (or co-manager) should not be too much of a burden on your time, and doing so will be a major help to the McCain Campaign.

We're especially interested in getting blog managers from New York, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois, California, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and New Hampshire. I have regular visitors from all these states (and others), and I hope people will step up to the plate. All those blogs currently exist (with the state name followed by "for John McCain"), so you can see what they look like. (For example, http://Hawaiiforjohnmccain.blogspot.com.)

Then, the next step is for you to volunteer as a manager. If you need help with the process, don't hesitate to ask me at TalkTop65@aol.com. The sites are all on blogspot.com, because it's relatively easy to use.

The "look" of each state site will be the same, but the managers will all take different approaches on their blogs. Hopefully, each manager will reach out to all members of the online communities in their various states.

We're calling this "The Million Vote Project," because that's the minimum number of votes these United States blogs can influence in the direction of John McCain. Please volunteer today.In regard to Pennsylvania,

I'll be working this week to inform PA Republicans about the existence of this blog. I'll put up links to perhaps 100 blogs and ask the people to do the same for this blog. Soon, there will be a blogroll listing the 50 state blogs (plus a general one at: http://americanforjohnmccain.blogspot.com.

The Pennsylvania state blog will be a gathering place for supporters of John McCain, a site where people can share information and ideas.

Senator McCain can win Pennsylvania in November. But for that to happen, all his supporters must leverage their influence. This blog will help toward that end.