Is this election lacking in the "Good Vs. Evil" excitement factor?

[Armstead]

I have noticed among myself and others a lack of fire and passion in the overall election, since the primary battles ended.

Some of that is probably normal. Emotions got really high, and there's a certain burn-out factor. Plus it's summer and sort of a lull period in the overall cycle.

But still, it seems like there isn't real sense of emotion and high-stakes engagement at this point. It's not like it was compared to this period in 2004 or 2000.

I'm wondering if that's because this election lacks the Good Versus Evil factor that energized so many in recent elections. In 04 -- regardless of how lukewarm one might have felt about Kerry -- there was a real sense that GWB HAD to go. The stakes were as high as they could get, and both sides knew it.

This time around, ironically, Obama is much closer to being more of a needed change in direction. And the times right now are so horrid that most people want a big-time change.

But still....Outside of the hard core on eitehr side, the actual stakes of this election are not in the air on that intuitive level. Neither McCain nor Obama is whipping up the strong levels of support or opposition that make this election have that symbolic importance.

McCain is bad, and if elected he will be a disaster. But that isn't coming across.

I'm wondering if things will heat up as the fall rolls around. Can Obama do what he did in the primaries, and capture the wave of desire for change? Will peopel finally see through McCain, and realize that he is no reasonable moderate, but instead would be an extension of the worst of the GOP?

Stay tuned, I guess...

[phantom power]

1. On the one hand...

things are now worse than they were in 2004, and I think more people are aware of it. So the desire for HopeAndChange(tm) is stronger this time out.

On the other hand, Bush isn't running this time, and McCain can therefore position himself as representing change too. The vast sea of low-information voters will find that perfectly plausible.

Obama must be able to make the case that McCain == 4 more years of Bush. And he must do it in a way that reaches the low-information voter bloc. One thing about the GOP. They understand how to manipulate low-info voters. We Democrats aren't so good at it, which is why the GOP continues to represent a threat.

Also, Obama's campaign must compensate for the MSM, which continues to favor GOP memes. The good news is that I think the pendulum has begun swinging. The bad news is that between now and November, it will certainly not have swung very far. For the 2008 campaign, we must count the MSM as being GOP-friendly.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. many people are desperate to get rid of the Bush administration including McExxon

we are against the media