LATEST News You won’t find on CNN or FOX News

In a heavily Republican-leaning area of Florida north of Orlando, Gov. Palin drew a crowd nearing 60,000 people turning out for a rally. Clearly the media has to think twice if the excitement over Palin among conservatives is fading or not. No doubt the conservative Republican retirement community she visited also helped. As reported back in May, Barack Obama drew a crowd of 80,000 or so in Portland, Oregon, a very Democratic area in a blue state.

Report on Palin’s crowd from Fox News:

THE VILLAGES, Fla. — Sarah Palin played it safe Sunday on her first trip as John McCain’s running mate to the battleground state of Florida, drawing a massive crowd of 60,000 people.

She went to perhaps the easiest place in Florida to get a large Republican turnout, stuck mostly to the themes she’s hit since the Republican convention and took no questions from reporters or the crowd.

But she was welcomed like a star, with tens of thousands cramming into a plaza and nearby streets in this enormous retirement community about an hour north of Orlando. Some waited more than five hours in 92-degree heat to see her speak for 23 minutes.

Palin arrived in Florida on Friday and had no public events Saturday, though she told the crowd her daughters Piper and Willow got to go to Disney World.

After some jokes about the difference between golfing in Florida and Alaska, her remarks hit most of the same points she’s made since McCain chose her as the first woman to run as a Republican vice presidential nominee. She did, however, update the stump speech to reflect last week’s turmoil in the financial markets.

“We need serious reform on Wall Street. We need better regulation. It’s like Senator McCain said just yesterday — we don’t need a dozen federal agencies doing the job badly, we need the best agencies doing the job right,” she said.

She said McCain had warned about the problems affecting financial institutions, and attacked Democrat Barack Obama on the issue.

“This week when the economic crisis threatened the livelihood of millions of Americans, John McCain took a clear stand and he offered his own recovery plan. Our opponent refused to even take a stand on the position,” Palin said.

As I was labeling in “Obama-mania” back then, perhaps “Palin-mania” is still going strong with the Republican base.

Interesting story out today about Obama’s plans for Friday’s (9/26/08) first Presidential debate on foreign policy. Apparently Obama will be heading south this week and spending 3 days prepping for the debate in hopes to woo voters with his answers and knowledge of foreign policy issues.

Report from Yahoo News:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama planned to head to Florida this week for three days of preparation for the first debate of the general election, a matchup that could reshape a tight White House race.

Aides say the debate, scheduled for Friday at the University of Mississippi and focused on foreign policy, will give Sen. Obama a chance to demonstrate proficiency in an area where polls have shown voters give the edge to Sen. John McCain, the Republican challenger and a 26-year Washington veteran who touts his ties to leaders around the world.

If Obama can hold his own on foreign policy, it could ease those worries, aides said Sunday as they tried to lower expectations for the first-term Illinois senator, a powerful speaker but an uneven performer in multiple debates during the Democratic primaries.

Instead, senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said it is McCain who needs to meet expectations.

“John McCain has boasted throughout the campaign about his decades of Washington foreign policy experience and what an advantage that would be for him,” Gibbs said. “This debate offers him major home-court advantage and anything short of a game-changing event will be a key missed opportunity for him.”

While Obama is cloistered in Tampa, Fla., veteran Washington lawyer Greg Craig will play the role of McCain in the debate preparations. Craig was a member of President Clinton’s defense team during the impeachment proceedings. In 2004, he was a stand-in for President Bush when Democratic nominee John Kerry prepared for his debates. Craig also has advised both Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on foreign policy.

The bulk of Obama’s time in Florida will be devoted to the debates, but he’s also likely to hold some campaign events in the area.

To be a fly on that wall would be fascinating. McCain will be doing the same kind of prep, no doubt, with a fill-in for Obama as well.

For the better part of this campaign, Barack Obama has been raising serious amounts of cash from the beginning. Meanwhile, John McCain has stumbled up until recently to bring in the dollars necessary to compete on a national level. That all being said, it appears from financial statements released by both campaigns that they are on a nearly equal financial footing, all things considered.

The report from Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON - For all Barack Obama’s remarkable fundraising and sizable surplus, the Democratic presidential nominee entered the final two months of the presidential contest on virtually equal financial footing as Republican rival John McCain.

According to finance reports filed in the past two days with the Federal Election Commission, Obama and the Democratic National Committee ended August with $95 million in the bank. McCain and the Republican National Committee ended with about $94 million.

The parties are crucial players in the general election, coordinating some activities with the candidates while also spending independently to help them. Both sides also distributed money to state party committees to assist in the race.

Obama is bypassing the public financing system for presidential contests. That burdens him with the continuing need to raise money. McCain has decided to accept $84 million in public financing — and the spending limitations that go with it.

But both men have chosen distinct money paths that seem suited to their circumstances.

The Democratic National Committee has $17.7 million in the bank and Obama has $77.4 million. The Republicans present a mirror image. The Republican National Committee has $76 million in the bank and McCain has given it $18 million of his surplus.

And McCain now has $84 million for the next two months, without exerting any effort.

Obama has been the money leader of the presidential campaign. Overall, he has raised more than $450 million to McCain’s $210 million. Despite the advantage, Obama didn’t shake Hillary Rodham Clinton until the final primary in June, and his race with McCain remains practically a dead heat.

Insofar as money matters in this race, Obama can’t afford to stay even with McCain.

It appears to me, at least, that the Obama campaign was probably planning on a much wider advantage at this point in the race. Obama’s fund raising has been massive, however, since McCain is on a near equal footing with cash, they will both have to be choosing where to spend it very carefully.

Furthermore, McCain is set with the $84 million in public financing without having to lift a finger. No doubt Obama can match or exceed that number in fund raising but it means he has to devote time away from campaigning to raise money. It will be an interesting trade-off to watch.

I continued to hear bits and pieces about McCain attempting to open up a front in New York State since he is not polling completely out of competition in that state. Keep in mind New York went to John Kerry in 2004 by 31 points. Obama currently leads by 13 points on average right now, well within a safe zone but much closer than New York traditionally is for the Democratic candidate.

In a slight conclusion, I have a feeling this campaign will not come down to cash as originally predicted by the media way back when. The debates and policy differences will determine voter sentiment, not TV ads in my opinion. Besides, who actually trusts and/or believes a TV ad from either campaign?