Kerry pulls ads from Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri

[Freddie Stubbs]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing to political realities, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has canceled plans to begin broadcasting television commercials in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana and the perennial battleground of Missouri.

The decision to shrink his political playing field reduces Kerry's strategic options — at least for now — in the homestretch of the campaign. George W. Bush won all four states in 2000, and Kerry can't win the White House without taking one or two of them away from the Republican incumbent.

The ads were scheduled to begin airing Oct. 5 as part of a $5 million investment through Nov. 2, but campaign advisers concluded Kerry isn't doing well enough in the states to justify the cost.

The campaign, which has reserved commercial time in 20 states through Election Day, notified television stations in the four states that Kerry would not follow through on his plans for the first week of October.

more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-09-22-kerry-pulls-ads_x.htm

[JuniorPlankton]

1. Sad reality sets in n/t

[mac56]

Please explain

what sad reality you're talking about.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JuniorPlankton]

16. Excuse me? n/t

[Darth_Kitten]

12. it's just their opinion

honestly :eyes:

[mac56]

18. I realize that.

I found it an interesting opinion, and wanted him to elaborate. Which he's done.

[Darth_Kitten]

32. Cool.

:)

[JuniorPlankton]

14. I mean that

they had a give up on a few states.
I would love Kerry to run ads everywhere and DC, but it is just not possible.
I am far from being defeatist in the election overall, but it's sad to see that the Kerry campaign gave up in those four states.
Do you disagree? (Ignore the crap that Kerry MUST win one of the four states to win the election.)

[mac56]

19. thank you

nm

[JuniorPlankton]

15. dupe

[Bandit]

35. Lack of resources

Sad Reality. I gave more than ever before but most Americans don't give a cent to help democracy.

[mrboba1]

2. Huh???

and Kerry can't win the White House without taking one or two of them away from the Republican incumbent.

I dare say that he can win without any of those states.
Nice balanced journalism there...

[dumpster_baby]

3. interesting wording in this advertisement, er, news story, eh?

"bow", "realities", etc. And of course, the mistaken idea given by reading it that Kerry has now lost....

[Supersedeas]

39. the smell of propoganda in the morning

what if Kerry has come to the conclusion that personal appearances are much more EFFECTIVE than expensive TV ads in these states.

might there be another REALITY that other than the BOWING OUT propoganda that this HOE is spewing?

[Quahog]

8. Agreed, that's a patently false statement

Who writes this shit? If you look at the electoral college results from 2000, all Kerry has to do is take ONE STATE away from the monkey, and he wins. Talk about Chapter One in the Book of DUUUUUUH!

[krkaufman]

25. Can you say Gore states + Florida?

Agreed. Those 4 states are wholly unnecessary if Kerry gets all the Gore states from 2000 (a classification which includes Florida).

[AndyTiedye]

43. They Will STEAL Florida Again!

It is not possible for us to get a big enough lead in Florida that they
cannot steal it again. They've still got tens of thousands of Democrats
purged from the rolls from 2000 (it's "too hard" to process all their
requests for re-instatement before the 2004 election), they have lots of
shiny new Diebold Republican Electing machinez, and they are busy scaring elderly black Democratic voters away from the polls by threatening them with prison for "fraud". They undoubtably have other
tricks up their sleeve as well.

If none of that works, the Florida legislature will award the state
to Boosh regardless of what the popular votes is there. They were
all ready to do that in 2000, and the Repubs still are in control.

Kerry should pull his ads in Florida in favor of those states that
still have free elections. Any of those four red states would be
a better investment than Florida.

[Hand]

44. You're right--it's been done...

GORE won in 2000 without those states!

:grr:

[9119495]

4. I would still fight for AR...Clinton will be healthy again

and Clark can help out there too. We need those six votes.

[Leilani]

5. Can the DNC move in & advertise

& spend money if Kerry is limited?

[Search Party]

6. well, i live in a small sw missouri town that is a repub stronghold

and i have never seen so many kerry/edwards yard signs/bumber stickers, not to mention the ltte that are pro-kerry and growing.

don't buy the hype

[Terran]

29. Me too, I don't see writing off Missouri at all

It was very close in 2000.

[jgardner]

9. I really believe

that all of the polls are horribly wrong. They don't talk to new voters or voters with cell phones or people who haven't voted in the past. Come Nov. 2, I expect to be celebrating in front of my television as every state in the nation turns bright blue, and the news anchors fall off their seats. It will be a landslide!

[mac56]

11. Hope you're right, jg -

but I'll settle for a victory even if a few states go the other way.

[GoldenOldie]

13. I have a strong sense that the Neocons

were/are planning on the electronic voting systems to get Bush re-elected. The polls are a way for Rove and company to instill in voters minds that Kerry is now losing then if they are capable of changing the actual vote count through manipulation of the machine count, it would validate these daily polls. Then these so-called political analysts can puff out their chests and crow how right on the mark they were.

This whole poll and daily analysis doesn't pass the smell test.

[fudge stripe cookays]

21. Exactly.

That's what I'm figuring on too. They won't need an October surprise as long as they keep the voters duped into believing there aren't that many who oppose shrub.

FSC

[jgardner]

34. I should have said

It will be a landslide... as long as they don't CHEAT (again).

[reprobate]

42. But repugs MUST cheat. It's in their genes. They can't help it.

[peacebuzzard]

10. you can equate the USA Today with the National Enquirer.

why bother...it's like reading "People", trash for the eyes. Only as boredom entertainment. :boring:

[robcon]

It's not USA Today

It's an Associated Press story.

[rocktivity]

17. So he can't have rallies there?

Or hold press conferences? Or run newspaper ads? Or call the radio stations? Or give interviews at local tv stations? Or give out yard signs and bumper stickers? Or send in MoveOn?

This article sounds like another weapon of mass demoralization.

:headbang:
rocknation

P.S. AirAmerica comes to Phoenix AZ this week.

[2Design]

20. mistake - if he gives up on them - they will give up on him

they can combine ad money like BushCo is doing

[demnan]

22. The fact is

they are the party of the wealthy and have virtually unlimited funds while we do not. Unlike the Republicans, we have learned to spend wisely.

(How's that for a positive spin?)

[Racenut20]

23. Clark, Edwards, Clinton

I would have used them in these two states heavily. Edwards drew great crowds in Springfield, the stronghold of conservative Republicans, and he was there before classes started at SMS.

A visit or two by Clinton when he is able in St. Louis and Kansas City, where Democrats have a strong black candidate in the 5th District. Former Mayor Emanuel Cleaver. After all, wasn't Clinton the first "black President". He ran super well in those cities.

Although General Clark probably did some good in Alaska, supporting the Senate race, I would have used the heck out of him in Mo, Ak, and Oklahoma (where he won the primary and we could use his coattails to help with the Senate seat).

Just one old man's opinion Mz Cahill.

[Larkspur]

24. Where's Gephardt? Why is Kerry pulling out of MO?

[earthside]

37. I've been told ...

... by a friend in Missouri that actually the Democratic National Party and many pro-Kerry, anti-Bush 527s are advertising there.

I take these 'news' reports about campaign spending with a piece of rock salt. They don't tell the whole story about what other organizations are doing. And you would expect that any campaign would use a certain amount of political feinting to psych-out the other side.

My hunch is that Missouri is still very much part of the Kerry strategy.

[PATRICK]

26. Typical Reader's Digest slant

as if the advisers are going to openly confess to the AP. The other reality that is not mentioned is that Kerry's attempt to hoard his money was ruined by this same crippling media support for the SBVFT.

If I were a strategist- maybe I think too deeply- I would lay back on all those cliffhanger states until the dams start breaking loose some big mo in friendlier territory- then come back with a vengeance based on new opportunities. The article admits as much about the "for now" factor.
You can always interpret a negative situation positively. That is the job of campaign advisers, but not apparently the sources of AP. Every Dem has always been cash strapped and campaigning in Dark Territory all too often. At the end it was traditional to FINALLY recognize the soaring crowds and grassroots momentum. The situation has worsened in a media that plays so hard to TV perceptions that for all intents and purposes there are NO grassroots only digital screens and polls.

Except for our new awareness of the media's shortcomings this campaign is better off than most that I can remember. Shoe ins like Clinton's second term and LBJ's picking up the torch(plus fear!) needed none of the usual Dem drama. Today we have in everywhere and so far beyond the traditional Labor and minorities base that it can't be measured.

We know the one track advantages of the Nixonian stooge campaign. What disappoints me there are no clever fellows up there who can game such an openly limited and deceptive bunch of cheats. There are more than enough indignant or ironic fellows writing volumes of intelligent critiques- with no direct action ever taken.

It was apparent last election that cheating(exposed for all to see if not allowed to think straight about) was one area the Party should have been working on. Instead it was pre-empted by the GOP who lied their way toward more suppression and cheating than ever. They need to be tricked, caught, humiliated, forced back to law and order regardless if we win this election.

Yes our campaign is well on the road to victory. No, it has not confronted the parallel universe of GOP fraud that rewrites the game.
That is what is really giving people the willies. Yet time and again we fall for the convenient fictive contest that some sparring points awarded by the media make a real difference, or that there any issue scorecard in the universe that can neglect the catastrophic record of the past four years or Kerry's limitless superiority to the unelected fraud doing his chicken dance and calling it the WH Waltz. I am sick to death of the pious lecturing by the press about how BOTH campaigns are not conforming to their surreal vision of how the contest should be engaged.

[dolstein]

27. The real story is this -- Kerry staffers leaking to the press

Why the HELL are there Kerry staffers speaking anonymously to the press, saying that the campaign is unlikely to put ads up in these states again? The official line SHOULD be that the campaign is simply rotating spots in various states, and that the campaign expects to resume advertising in these states shortly. That's what a disciplined campaign would do. That's what a winning campaign would do. You don't see Republican campaign staffers anonymously talking to the press about their ad strategy.

Why is the Kerry campaign staffed with so many backbiting losers?

[progressivebydesign]

38. Why do you believe that Kerry staffers really said anything?

I never believe these unattributed guesses by the mainstream media. I work in a campaign, NO ONE would actually talk to the press and say something like that.. even in a small campaign. I don't buy it...

[Beetwasher]

28. Kerry Can't Win W/Out 1 or 2? TOTAL BULLSHIT!!!

Kerry can win by winning EVERY State Gore won (which he should), plus NH (again, he will win NH) and ONE MORE STATE like FL, OH or even NC or NV+WV etc. Kerry can most definitely win without any of these states he's pulling ads out of. These people don't know how to do addition. Morons.

[Darth_Kitten]

33. Hopefully Florida.....

;)

[BeyondGeography]

30. That's the beauty of the Electoral College for ya!

So now we have a campaign to see who's going to be the President of Ohio and Florida. Some democracy. It would be comical if it weren't so sad.

[onehandle]

31. Note the blatant lie in the second paragraph.

"Bush won all four states in 2000, and Kerry can't win the White House without taking one or two of them away from the Republican incumbent."

Uh....Florida!? What the Liar who wrote this meant is "Kerry can't win the White House without taking any swing state away from the Republican incumbent."

Idiots.

[goodboy]

36. I think it's a mistake...Gore pulled his ads out of ohio early

and lost by a few points...maybe if he'd kept them in, he could've carried ohio...Kerry shouldn't give up so soon.

[AngryOldDem]

47. My thoughts exactly

And if Gore had taken Ohio and Tennessee, or just Tennessee for that matter, we all would have been spared this mess.

I don't know if this is a particularly good idea, but I defer to the judgment of the campaign. It will be up to the workers in those states now to keep things going.

[RayOfHope]

40. The DNC is stepping up to the plate

My friend that works for the state party says Kerry is pulling out, but the DNC is stepping in. Not to worry, MO isn't being written off. Terry McAuliffe was in town last weekend and saw the support for Kerry first hand.

[AP]

41. And when Kerry gets momentum in these states thanks to others' ads...

...the last thing you're going to hear is media like US Today commenting on how strange it is that Kerry is closing and or leading in those states they told us weeks earlier out of which Kerry was pulling.

[Roy]

45. I fear that some of the mistakes of the last election

I fear that some of the mistakes of the last election are being repeated in this cycle. Even now, I believe that missouri can still be had by Kerry, but when I read stuff like this. See what Congressman Clay says,

http://www.thehill.com/news/092204/black.aspx

I get discouraged.

[goodboy]

46. Missouri was close last time, so I think he should stick with it...eom

[jwirr]

48. This story

means absolutely nothing. Television ads are only one part of a campaign. There are many ways for state and federal organizations to reach people that have nothing to do with tv. Kerry has not written off these states - he is just placing ad money to a different area while continuing to use more effective means in these states. USAToday is just hoping it can make it look like Kerry has given up campaigning.

[saracat]

49. Okay. Arizona has had a HUGE influx of staffers. We are going

to have enormous quantities of signs. We have been having continuous appearances of major campaign players. In the last week and a half we have had John Edwards, who spoke to 10,000 people, Vanessa Kerry who went to the ASU football game, Kate Edwards who spoke at Phoenix College, and attended a Stonewall Dems fundraiser. Carole King, who went to the same fundraiser, and went to a party for the leg candidate in my district. Yesterday Theresa Heinz Kerry spoke at the Sun Dome and was gust speaker at our Hall of Fame Dinner. We raised over a million dollars! Our latest Zogby poll has us a percentage point away from Bush and 3% for Nader, who isn't on our ballot! Does it sound like they have given up on Arizona to you? I think the ads will be back at the end with a blitz but JMHO. For a state they have "given up" , they are certainly camping out here!