This is good news, but we'll wait and see. It's time for David Plouffe to put up.
Senator Barack Obama will intensify his assault against Senator John McCain, with new television advertisements and more forceful attacks by the candidate and surrogates beginning Friday morning, as he confronts an invigorated Republican presidential ticket and increasing nervousness in the Democratic ranks.
I don't understand why they are surprised about the nasty, vile attacks against Obama. This is what they do and how they win elections and was totally predictable. I do like the fact that Obama met with Bill Clinton. I think he kinda knows how to win against these maniacs.
Beyond that, Mr. Obama's aides said they had been taken aback by the newfound aggressiveness of the McCain campaign under Steve Schmidt, who has played an increasingly powerful role since last summer. Even as the aides have denounced the tactics as unsavory, they acknowledge that Mr. McCain is running a more effective campaign than he was a month ago.
It's character assassination politics and they are good at it. Rove is back at the helm too so it's going to stay ugly.
Digby has an insider's take named Deep Insight:
In his acceptance speech Obama developed a very useful overall line of attack against McCain. He needs to continue a clear critique of the current economic situation and also offer a forward-looking message about the next generation of jobs. Some of his advertising has been good in this vein but he has to attack Bush-McCain economics every day.
Obama also needs to continue right after McCain on his Bush like foreign policy. McCain certainly looks like he is itching for more combat, as one wag put it; he is President Sonny Corleone after 8 years of Fredo. He has turned Iraq into a story about "winning" and is now trying to turn the Russian/Georgia border war into an international revival of the Cold War.
Yes, can I have some more.
The Republicans have been winning the day-to-day “free” press war. Of course it helps if much of the press is your “base.” To date, the McCain campaign has had better though highly misleading ads. The Obama advertising does not yet reflect the quality of his candidacy. It looks and sounds like traditional political advertising.
And still:
The GOP is far better at employing surrogates. In a 24/7 news cycle, the Democrats need better attacks that make news. Of course some of the attacks are ridiculous as in the GOP “lipstick on a pig” smear. But it is the reality, the modern media as a clown show...
The Obama field program will be unprecedented, but will only make the deciding difference if the fundamental framework of the election is for a referendum on failed Republican policy. The campaign still has an enthusiasm advantage that will result in more committed volunteers willing to walk precincts in their neighborhoods. But Republicans know how to turn out the conservative base, now more energized with Palin. On the other hand, this is the first election where the Democrats should have a technology advantage due to the superiority in digital communications like text messaging.
