The Republicans have had their convention and now it’s time for the Democrats to meet in North Carolina – which, contrary to the belief of Vice President Biden does not contain portions of southside Virginia.
There’s a lot of talk about convention bounces – but that just hasn’t been the case much over the past few election cycles. According to the magazine The Economist, factors such as the proximity of the conventions to one another (in term of time), tightness in the polls, how well each candidate is doing relative to one another, and the number of independents to win over – which is less than in 2008 – all point to not much change from the conventions this year (and this appears to be bearing itself out, at least from the GOP Convention, according to Gallup).
Yet, we can see that Democrats are really starting to get nervous.
Whether it’s the Obama campaign in Charlottesville having thousands of tickets remaining the night before his visit – and a full 5500 less than his last visit, Samuel L Jackson wishing Hurricane Isaac had pounded the GOP convention, or David Chalian formerly of Yahoo! News saying that Mitt Romney would be “happy to have a party when black people drown.” You can tell Democrats are if full free fall.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are talking about the economy, energy, budget deficits, and saving entitlements.
My guess is that next this week’s Democratic convention will be a lot about Mitt Romney’s taxes – which he has paid – and being vilified for being a successful private entrepreneur.
Let’s hope the American people see that for what it is: desperation.
And, if there is any bounce, it’s a reverse one for Obama-Biden.
[display_podcast]
Twitter: @jrhoeft | Facebook: http://facebook.com/jrhoeft | Web: http://jrhoeft.com
