Cannonfire

Sunday, November 04, 2012

The Romney campaign is getting weird in these final days

Am I the only person to notice that Team Romney is acting in an unfathomable fashion as election day approaches? Money should be tight right now, yet the Romneyites (as detailed two posts down) are making huge ad buys in states "not in play" -- Texas, for example.

And I keep seeing Romney ads all over liberal sites, such as Op Ed News and BooMan. What can Mitt hope to gain from such expenditures?

We're also seeing a flurry of strange polls. Usually, even the partisan polls head toward realism in the final days -- that's how a firm like Rasmussen can make claims of accuracy. But this cycle is different.

In Pennsylvania, where Mitt is spending heavily, one poll has the race a tie -- even though all other polls show Obama ahead by a fairly comfortable margin. The outlier poll was conducted by a Scaife-owned newspaper.

Michigan has been safely in the Obama column for some time, yet a new Fox-sponsored poll puts Romney slightly ahead in that state.

Then there's Minnesota, where Romney leads by one point in a poll conducted for the GOP by the American Future Fund. All other polls (even Rasmussen's!) paint Garrison Keillor's home state a fairly deep blue -- downright cerulean, by some measures.

If -- fairly or otherwise -- PA, MN and MI go red, then Ohio (probably) won't matter.

One possibility is that these questionable late-in-the-game polls are meant to give credibility to election machine rigging. This blog will have much more to say about that possibility very soon. For now, see Brad Friedman's coverage, along with Victoria Collier's work. (Also here.) The hysterical right-wing attacks on Nate Silver may also figure into this scenario.

posted: 2:07 PM

4 COMMENTS - CLICK HERE

Comments:

I think we can be quite assured that shenanigans are afoot and certain polls are the equivalent of electoral gaslighting.

posted by

Seth Warren : 4:39 PM

This could well be an attempt to mask some vote rigging but, if so, they are way late and lots of polls short of convincing.

More likely, it's the Super PACs burning their money before the election. Afterward, it's useless and now they can skim like mad while showing the billionaire backers they did everything possible.

If they can't make that case, Rove and the other scam artists might not be able to raise billions for the next election. This is their business after all.

posted by

ralphb : 5:07 PM

The system has been overwhelmed by outside money, particularly the shadow money that Rove et al have turned into personal cash cows. I agree with Ralph--they have to spend it because to come up short means they won't get equivalent and/or larger sums in the future. There may be other considerations afoot, too. Who knows? But spending gobs of ad buys in Texas or Pa is a worthless expenditure. The former is solidly in the GOP's pocket and Pa isn't even close.

There was a fascinating article recently on all the money floating around. It reiterated what I'd read several months ago--that the humongous amounts of money donated by millionaires and billionaires to 'have their say'--vanity donations--was money thrown down a rat's hole, huge amounts funneled off for fees and the individual fundraiser's wallets. Free market and all that.

There's a certain justice to this scenario--the !% being ripped off by political conmen and grifters in the same way they have conned and cheated the rest of the country.

Spend on, Karl Rove. Spend on!

Plus, I love how that 'possible fail' in the Romney camp is already being assigned to Sandy in general and Chris Christie specifically. When the opposition begins to couch a possible loss and pick scapegoats, you know the gig is up.

Peggysue

posted by

Anonymous : 8:23 PM

"huge amounts funneled off for fees and the individual fundraiser's wallets"

This. Conservatives eat their own; it's the law of the jungle out there. ;)

There might be some quid pro quo for loyal party hacks involved in the red state buys as well.

posted by

Anonymous : 10:28 PM