Weird ass explanation for McCain fixation on Iowa and Pennsylvania

[CreekDog]

follow me through the steps:

1) Obama can win both those states and lose.

2) However, if Obama spends time in IA and PA it takes away from states that are must haves for McCain: Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina.

3) McCain can't cover all those states (2nd group) and his campaigning doesn't really change the point spread (see: Palin, Sarah and see also: Campaigning, badly, McCain, John).

4) His only chance is to keep Obama out of the 2nd group as much as possible and keep Obama's resources out of those states as much as possible.

5) By campaigning in Pennsylvania he indicates to his base he is doing better than he is, which increases his chances everywhere through turnout (besides, he's still visiting the other states but the media is fixated on Pennsylvania. :eyes: )

6) To the extent McCain can fire up the base in PA, media coverage there is widespread and could legitimately force Obama to spend a little more time and attention on it to be safe.

It's sort of like a loser strategy in that game "Risk". The more successful you are the more territory you have to defend. The loser simply has to pick something to distract from the overall strategy --there's no other way to win.

[mwei924]

1. Obama has too much money.

If he had limited funds, it might work to try to bankrupt his campaign.

[CreekDog]

3. It's not about money, it's about days

they both have the same number.

[WCGreen]

2. That would all be true if McCain has any where near the money Obama has....

[CreekDog]

7. no silly, it's to keep Obama physically out of the other states to any extent possible

time spent in a safe state is wasted time for Obama.

Bush tried to pull this on Gore in 2000 with California --Gore didn't bite, though he did send Clinton and it's of the few places he did.

[FVZA_Colonel]

9. Obama not only has one Clinton, but two; to say nothing of Joe Biden.

Obama might rearrange for an appearance or two, but I doubt he'd be suckered in for any major commitment that McCain might want him to make.

[CreekDog]

10. Yes, this is overall a hail mary strategy

but with the clock ticking and the margin what it is, what other strategy does McCain have?

[mwei924]

4. Obama also has the surrogate advantage.

He doesn't need to go there personally. Biden, the Clintons and Rendell are all popular in Pennsylvania. Maybe even more popular than Obama himself. Who's McCain gonna send? Lieberman?

[Richard Steele]

5. Simpler explanation: McCain is erratic and clueless. nm

[CreekDog]

8. McCain is those things, but he is not choosing where to campaign

and his people are left with this strategy.

[JimGinPA]

6. Obama Needs To Get Back To Lancaster Right Away!!!

:rofl:

[CreekDog]

11. The Amish will turn out for McCain

:wtf:

okay, maybe not.