Election Confidential

Written by: DFA Staff on Oct 15, 2008 8:48 AM EDT

Friday, October 10

In This Issue

• Fighting the Hate Campaign
• Defending ACORN
• Beware of Media Bias
• Cool Daily Kos Election Map

As we are heading into the final three weeks before election day, the global financial meltdown dominates the headlines, but slightly below the surface, the ugly campaign by McCain and Palin to motivate voters via fear and hate continues to bubble. How to fight appeals to race and fear without adding more fuel to the flames is a challenge for the Obama campaign and for progressive activists. Before taking action, it is important to be fully cognizant of what we are dealing with.

If you have any doubt about what the attacks are about or how frequently they are being repeated, watch this video produced by Brave New Films. If you have colleagues and friends who dismiss or fail to take seriously the nature of the fear appeal, forward them the video link, so they can be motivated and prepared to add their calming, reassuring voices to the national dialogue whenever they hear the doubt from friends family, colleagues etc.

The theme is the fear of terrorism: On the campaign trail, Sarah Palin repeatedly uses "domestic terrorism" to describe Obama's association with former '60s radical Bill Ayers and makes the ludicrous statement that Obama's campaign was hatched in Bill Ayers living room. McCain plays with the crowd's fears by asking the open-ended question, "Who is the real Obama?" -- encouraging the audience to project their worst fears onto Obama, the candidate.

For a meaty description of the hate on the campaign trail, read about Palin "unhinged" in Florida last week: "This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America," she told the Clearwater crowd. "I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.

Things have gotten so out of hand that a number of Republicans are denouncing the McCain campaign strategy. Here is the transcript of Amy Goodman interviewing Lifelong Republican Frank Schaeffer who says McCain is "deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate."

People can go here and sign a letter to help fight the hate campaign

A parallel tactic of the McCain campaign is to attack the venerable grassroots advocacy group ACORN (and their voter registration arm, Project Vote). The goal here is to scare people into thinking that massive fraud is being perpetuated and hordes of poor voters will overrun the polls. No doubt, in ACORN's huge operation, there have been sloppy efforts to sign up voters and instances of forms accidentally being filled out more than once. But this isn't voter fraud. And claims that say otherwise are just silliness.

Many have come to the defense of ACORN, including Think Progress, which just published a report on controversy. And ACORN has provided fundamental answers to the array of questions raised. Read this article to be prepared to defend ACORN.

It is standard operating procedure for the corporate media to bend over backwards to tighten the presidential race -- closer races keep more media attention -- to keep one candidate from getting an advantage, or simply succumb to pressure from very aggressive campaign tactics. I noticed a piece of bias in a New York Times on Saturday: "McCain Lauds and Attacks Obama in Same Day" By Elisabeth Bumiller. The teaser read, "As the polls have shown Barack Obama gaining ground, John McCain has been veering from message to message."

Obama leads in all national polls, in some cases by more than 10 points, but the NY Times editor uses the term "gaining ground," as if Obama has been far behind and is perhaps catching up on McCain; to say "forging ahead" or "taking the lead," would be far more accurate.

But that is nothing compared to the bias Chris Bowers documents about the Washington Post, where, according to its editors, a 2.2 percent McCain lead is greater than a 13.8 percent Obama lead.

In the Post's system, any state where McCain leads, no matter his margin, is defined as "leaning Republican." States where Obama leads by 7.3 percent-13.8 percent are defined as "battleground states," while states where McCain leads by 2.2 percent-6.8 percent are defined as "leaning Republican." Bowers asks: "Does the uneven math in this strike anyone as problematic? The Washington Post claims that a 2.2 percent lead for McCain is larger than a 13.8 percent lead for Obama. That is objectively wrong and quantifiably unfair. This is as blatantly imbalanced as election reporting can possibly get."

In Bowers' related post, he also documents how big media sites can't admit what is patently obvious to even Republican poll watchers right now: Obama is over 270 outside the margin of error. Says Bowers, "Maybe they are afraid of being accused of pro-Obama bias (probably). Maybe they are just biased toward McCain (possibly). Maybe they just suck at electoral forecasting (definitely). Maybe they are invested in a close campaign (absolutely)."

Check out this colorful and helpful map of the U.S., brimming with useful information, especially helpful for election night.

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