...for those who believe Ohio will be as Democrat-heavy or more so than 2008.

A short sample of the shift, with link to the data at the end:

Champaign County: Was +3% GOP, now +23% GOP – 20 point shift.

Columbiana County: Was +9% DEM, now +9% GOP – 18 point shift.

Crawford County: Was +3% DEM, now +12% GOP – 15 point shift.

Cuyahoga County: Was +36% DEM, now +30% DEM (GOP already has 6,000 more requests than in 200 – 6 point shift.

Erie County: Was +24% DEM, now +7% DEM -17 point shift.

Franklin County: Was +5% DEM, now +5% GOP – 10 point shift.

Greene County: Was +4% DEM, now +19% GOP – 23 point shift.

Harrison County: Was +22% DEM, now +5% DEM – 17 point shift.

Hamilton County: Was +7% GOP, now +13% GOP – 6 point shift.

Licking County: Was TIED, now +16% GOP – 16 point shift.

Montgomery County: Was +29% DEM, now +5% DEM – 24 point shift.

Muskingum County: Was +1% DEM, now +16% GOP – 17 point shift.

Pickaway County: Was +12% DEM, now +15% GOP – 27 point shift.

Seneca County: Was +1% DEM, now +13% GOP – 14 point shift.

Summit County: Was +33% DEM, now +6 DEM – 27 point shift.

Wood County: Was +10% DEM, now +1% GOP – 11 point shift.

Link to ningrim's thankless task here, and give him a follow while you're at it.

The statewide reported gap is D+5.51%, nearly a third of what the Democrats had enjoyed in 2008. Same-day voting in Ohio leaned more in McCain's favor four years ago, but the early vote crushed him. I suspect after last night's debate a considerable number of Republicans are itching to get their ballots back.

Posted by: CAC at 03:14 PM | Comments (439)
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Nielsen says 67.2 million people watched the debate last night.

Melissa Clouthier puts that number in perspective...it's more people than voted for Obama in 2008.

That's a lot of people. A lot of people.

Our own John E. (follow him on Twitter) sends this chart from another ratings company which shows viewership in key swing state markets. If I read it right, most of them were higher than the national average.

Oh and FWIW...even I thought he was awesome. I'm guessing people that don't dislike him were probably even more impressed.

All good signs for Mitt.

I think we should enjoy this for the rest of the night and the Winston Wolf rule (auto play video with language warning) goes into effect tomorrow morning.

In the meantime you can enjoy the moment with...what else? My Electoral College map app. Turn the whole damn thing red and post it to facebook or Twitter. Great for showing off how smart you are and kicking your liberal friends while they after last night's Obama drubbing.

iPhone/iPad

Android

Kindle Fire

One last fun note...someone just tried to tell me we shouldn't take Biden lightly. Yeah, Ryan shouldn't but good luck playing the expectations game with Sheriff Joe.

For a reminder of how Ryan owned Obama during the healthcare debate, check this out.

Posted by: DrewM at 02:54 PM | Comments (139)
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Thanks to Damn Dirty Rhino.

Posted by: Ace at 01:18 PM | Comments (366)
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Just linking this so you know the current playbook.

I'm falling asleep. I might have one more post in me.

Oh, and Biden proudly vows to raise taxes by $1 trillion.

Posted by: Ace at 12:54 PM | Comments (160)
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Well, it's actually a schoolboy's cap with a whirligig on it (a propeller beanie, commenters tell me) but they intend it to be a duncecap. Or a schoolboy's cap.

They mean it in a bad way.

I won't give away the funniest part of the animation.

I'm liking the potential for a viral hit, here.

Via Nicholas Kronos and the Kronosphere.

Oh, No: And now, the Onion.

Following last night’s nationally televised presidential debate, President Barack Obama’s 11-year-old daughter Sasha reportedly asked her father why he was “acting like such a goddamned pussy up there.” “Daddy, how come you were being such a little bitch?” asked the sixth-grader, who told the president she was “genuinely worried” that maybe somebody had “cut Daddy’s balls off” right before he took the stage.

And Jon Stewart... is wondering exactly how smart Obama is.

This is bad.

There is the Gatekeeper Narrative and then there is the Real Narrative.

The Real Narrative is getting a little ugly for Obama.

Onion link via JammieWF.

Also Very Funny: "Ronnie Ferocious," Mitt Romney's punk-rock debate alter ego, at The Onion.

I linked this earlier. I think it's much funnier than the Sasha piece, which I don't think is funny at all. I didn't link that for the humor, but to establish the shifting pop culture narrative.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:50 AM | Comments (329)
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Let me try to dispel some mystery from your muddled little head, dummy:

You want to know why Obama didn't push "contraceptive rights," dummy?

Because Romney supports the right to contraceptives, and if Obama mentions it, Romney will inform the public of that, and then the secret will be out.

See, Obama's using the strawman that Romney opposes the right to buy contraception, but if he actually mentions that strawman around Romney, Romney will set it afire himself.

Do you dummies get any information from a source other than the Obama Campaign?

She actually seems to believe Obama's implication -- that when Obama runs ads stating he supports access to contraceptives, he's suggesting that Romney does not.

Well, with Romney right there, he gets to demolish that implication, Dummy.

Further, "access to contraceptives" is what we call a "euphemism," Dummy, designed to hide the difficult issues embedded within. For example, when Obama speaks of "access to contraceptives," he is alluding to -- without directly mentioning -- that he's forcing the Catholic Church to purchase contraceptives for employees, against its teachings.

Do you get that, Dummy? Do you understand why Obama might not want to get into that troublesome area?

See, I'll credit Obama with this much: When he resorts to a convenient euphemism, meant to hide politically-troublesome issues from the public, at least he understands that's what he's doing.

Norah O'Donnell, the dummy, the Kool-Aid drinker, does not understand this. She is honestly baffled why Obama doesn't just run out and proclaim his support for "access to contraceptives." She thinks Romney is anti-birth-control, and she's not aware that an important block of swing voters doesn't like the idea of the right of religious conscience being stripped from their church.

Once again, I note: These are the Dummies who presume to inform The Common Man.

Posted by: Ace at 11:28 AM | Comments (152)
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Ann Romney is a serious natural in front of a camera. This could be... not a game-changer, but at least a needle-twitcher.

They're also in talks to get Michelle Obama. But she's a known quantity-- she already has her fans and she already is providing that Humanizing thing for her husband. Ann Romney has not had that kind of exposure.

This will be on October 10th.

Romney will co-host the morning program alongside RobertÂ’s co-anchor George Stephanopoulos....

Ugh.

Posted by: Ace at 11:02 AM | Comments (170)
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He writes for the NYT, or perhaps "types" is more accurate. He likes to bait conservatives and say things like we don't know how to get our hump on and stuff.

I know this is trivial, but this is, well, just... You decide.

Some people suggest that Obama is luring Romney like the Russians lured Napoleon, getting him in too deep and out of his element. Maybe...

That's so sad.

So Obama devised this "Russian Winter" trap? And did so knowing that the next Obama v. Romney debate wouldn't happen for two weeks? And that next week's VP debate is surely a loss?

He decided to give himself two weeks of the public wondering if he's up to the job any longer? If he ever really was at all?

Posted by: Ace at 10:46 AM | Comments (293)
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FNC topped the ratings. It just barely edged CBS and ABC.

Still, cable over broadcast network.

Obviously this means that a goodly number of people saw the debate, and that's a Good Thing.

I'm thinking this: Remember in 2008, how Obama captured the imagination of so many? And so many tuned in because of the unprecedentedness of it all? The drama? The celebrity angle? That it was more than politics, it was a Happening?

I'm wondering if any case could be made that even more people tuning in now is bad for Obama, even ignoring his performance. If you're still sold on Obama, it's not like you haven't seen Obama six thousand times already. You know his schtick. Nothing new coming down the pike.

So why would more tune in now? Surely it's not because more people have jumped on the bandwagon; that is inconceivable. You don't gain supporters with 17% real unemployment.

I don't know if much of a case can be made for that line. But I wonder.

Anyway, whether that slapdash logic works or not -- Obama was surely hoping that not too many people tuned in. Well, that hope was dashed.

Extra bonus: The stakes have been raised, and hence the drama. That means, I hope, that more people than usual will tune into Ryan/Biden.

And I don't want to count chickens before they hatch but... it's plus ten chickens.

A Romney Rally? So speculated.

65 Million? On Twitter, someone said Rush is quoting the 65 million figure, which doesn't include Spanish-language broadcasts or internet viewers.

Posted by: Ace at 10:08 AM | Comments (282)
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This is our President?

His top adviser now begging his Palace Guard Media for help in his fight?

From whining that the moderator didn't rush in to protect him, to now asking the press to make the points Obama didn't bother practicing.

And the shocking thing is-- this plea for help will be granted.

All but stating that Mitt Romney had won the Denver debate, Axelrod conceded that the performance aspect was 'not the President's strong suit in these events' but insisted that 'I don't see us adding huge amounts of additional prep time'.

Axelrod, speaking on a campaign conference call, made an appeal to reporters to make the points that Obama himself had failed to make in the debate

'All of you who travel on the road with Governor Romney know that he just few weeks ago stood up and said we didn't need any more teachers,' he said. 'Last night he couldn't be more enthusiastic about teachers and more teachers.'

Unrelated: Hey, Romney really was like a whole different person last night, eh?
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Posted by: Ace at 09:36 AM | Comments (278)
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