The tactics of campaign messages

[cjsmith]

One man's prediction that the presidential race will not be close. Food for thought, for me anyway.

(My first question to myself: Why have I never before questioned the idea that the race will be close? Not that I'm necessarily agreeing with Roberts; I'm wondering why I didn't draw my own conclusion.)

Comments

[platypus]

I don't believe the media is manipulating these extremely close polls. Just because a blogger finds one candidate's platform more compelling than the other's doesn't mean squat -- 99% of the people I know wouldn't vote for him if he were the only candidate on the ballot. Bush may have a simpler message, but it's not one that would persuade me in a hundred years. I think it's the swing voters who give a flying crap about what will be hammered home in the next 60 days, and they're uncommonly rare this election. Many people have their minds firmly made up, and those people really do seem to be evenly split. I don't think the media is bullshitting about it so we'll watch the news.

http://electoral-vote.com/ has been tracking the polls for months now; it's interesting reading, especially the graphs that plot things over time, and the projections based on the trends. Accurate? Who knows?