Hi everybody:
Let's briefly update the situation on the U.S. Presidential election.
(I find that many
of our "overseas" readers are interested in that.)
The answer to the subject headline -- Can Bush Still Win? -- is: "possibly, but not likely."
As you will read in the news report below, Bush is now behind in the
polls. And -- the
very voters he needs to catch up ... are the voters he (and the Republican
elite) "spurned"
in the primaries..... Remember, Bush (and his Republican "hard
line" purists) said that they
did not want the independents or "Reagan Democrats" voting in the primary
elections as
Republicans. Those were the votes that were going for his Republican
opponent, John
McCain, in large numbers.....
Well, as we say in the Ozarks: Bush's "chickens have come home to roost".....
Now -- as many (including guru) who were trying to tell the Republicans
last spring
during the primaries -- the Republicans realize that they cannot win
a national election
with the votes of Republican loyalists (conservatives) alone.....
They simply have to
broaden the party base by appealing to the independents (and
many Republican
"moderates") that they have been "freezing out" from any voice in Republican
policies.....
That means that many of the purist "hard-line" conservative positions
have to be
changed to win over this 10 or 15% of the electorate that comprises
the middle of
the American political spectrum........ Changes in Republican
policy on: abortion,
tax breaks for the rich and the big corporations that STILL enjoy more
tax advantages
than does the middle class, the environment, social security, health
care policies that
somehow always manage to favor the HMOs or the insurance companies
rather than
the patient, and (most of all) an end to the campaign finance rules
in America today
that make it possible for powerful rich $$$$$$ special interests
(telecom!!) $$$$$$
to buy what they want in Washington.....!!!
Opposition to the forgoing cherished Republican policies by the voters
who are now
"in the middle" is giving Gore his lead in the polls. Can Bush
turn that around and
"sell himself" and his party to the American people as something he
is not --
a genuine champion of the middle class....??
Not likely at this late date in the election process......
He and his Republican "hard liners"
forfeited that opportunity last spring during the primaries.....
Even John McCain -- who
has recently announced a schedule of stepped up campaigning for Bush
-- is not likely
to swing the weight he did last spring with these independents and
Republican moderates.
They, like most voters, now realize that the Republican Party simply
is not capable of
"changing its stripes." And ... McCain, himself, no longer enjoys
the veneration or
respect with the independents that he did in the spring primaries.
His willingness to
"compromise" with "George W" on "campaign reform" was altogether too
"willing."
Cheerio........
Roy Beavers wrote:
--http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000917/pl/campaign_leadall_dc_9.html -- Roy Beavers (EMFguru) roy@emfguru.com It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness..... WEBSITE: http://emfguru.com People are more important than profit$$
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Politics News- updated 11:05 PM ET Sep 17
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Sunday September 17 8:08 PM ET
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Allies Say Bush Can Still Win Despite Low Polls
By Carol Giacomo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Partisans of Republican George Bush insisted on Sunday that he can overcome declining polls to win the U.S. presidency over Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) by pressing his stand on issues even as analysts predict voters will be tuning out politics to focus on the Olympics.
In an attempt to try and revive momentum for his flagging candidacy, Bush released a ``blueprint for the middle class'' -- a repackaging of positions that aim to benefit workers whose votes he needs to gain the White House.
But with much of the country preoccupied for the next two weeks with the Olympics in Sydney, analysts said three presidential debates set to begin after the Olympics conclude would be a key factor in Bush's ability to seize the political initiative, and voters' imaginations.
With upwards of 80 million Americans watching, the debates scheduled for Oct. 3, 11 and 17 ``are going to be very important,'' said Democratic political consultant James Carville on NBC TV's ``Meet the Press.''
Arizona Sen. John McCain (news - web sites), Bush's former rival for the Republican nomination, said he thought the governor should avoid negative attacks and focus in coming weeks on explaining his stance on issues important to voters.
``I think the emphasis on issues, frankly, got him to the dance. He really has some very innovative and very important proposals for education in America, and most Americans view that as a critical issue,'' McCain said on ABC television's ''This Week'' program.
Republicans To Bush: Get Back To Issues
Senate Majority leader Trent Lott had similar advice. ``I think Gov. George W. Bush (news - web sites) has to get out there and really get on message,'' he told the CBA program ``Face the Nation.''
``This campaign is about leadership, and he has those qualities. ... And I think it's also about the issues. I wouldn't be shy about that at all. I would go right at it,'' the Mississippi Republican added.
The Bush campaign indicated that was what the Texas governor planned to do.
``This race is about policy and voters want to know what each of these candidates is offering on issues important to the middle class,'' Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.
He spoke as the campaign issued a 15-page compendium of the Bush's agenda on taxes, education, health care, Social Security, family and community that borrowed from Gore's thus-far successful populist mantra.
The Gore campaign dismissed Bush's ``blueprint'' as an inadequate response to the vice president's 190-page dissertation on his vision for the country's future.
Bush had spent much of the campaign trying to raise questions about Gore's credibility and leadership, including picking a fight with the vice president over the campaign debate format that found little resonance with voters and diverted the focus from substantive matters.
Bush finally gave in last week, agreeing to a three-debate scheme proposed by the bi-partisan Presidential Commission on Debates that Gore accepted months earlier.
Polls Chart Bush Weakness
But the damage surfaced in opinion polls. Newsweek Magazine reported on Saturday that Gore had opened up a 13-point lead over Bush in a poll of 853 registered voters with the vice president posting 54 percent and the governor, 41 percent.
A poll of 1,800 voters by the Detroit Free Press and Wayne State University on Friday, meanwhile, showed Gore opening significant leads over Bush in the vote-rich industrial states of Michigan (45-37 percent), Illinois (48-33) and Pennsylvania (51-33). The Ohio race was a statistical dead heat.
Despite these figures, Republican Gov. John Engler of Michigan told ``Meet the Press'' Bush would carry his state and win the presidency, although it would be close. ``The debate over debates wasn't helpful,'' he admitted.
Republican strategist Mary Matalin pressed a similar upbeat line on the same show.
``Mount a comeback? This is where the race was always going to be. Bush is always going to be the underdog. He's running against an incumbent who's working for a popular president in a great economy. And despite all of that ... it's still a dead heat race,'' she insisted.
Bush will visit nine states in six days this week, traveling 6,076 miles in search of votes and competing for news coverage with the world's best athletes more than 10,000 miles away in Sydney, Australia.
Gore will push his ``fight for working families against powerful special interests'' beginning with an attack on health maintenance organizations in Las Vegas on Monday.
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Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com
It is better to light a single candle
than to curse the darkness.....
WEBSITE: http://emfguru.com
People are more important than profit$$
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