Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
[ kerry spot home | archives | email ]

I like Slate, I really do. But sometimes they let stuff like this slip in, and you just wonder what’s going on in there.

Chris Suellentrop, who’s been doing a bang-up job covering the Bush campaign, puts forth a silly idea, a rumor that the Democrats - or at least their Moby-esque allies - have been trying to get started for a while: That President Bush is “giving up” on Ohio.

Bush seems to have forgotten about Ohio, too. "The Bush campaign is confident it can win the state; as if to prove its comfort level, today marks 14 days since the Republican president last set foot in Ohio," Cleveland's Plain Dealer wrote this past Saturday. By the time Bush arrives in Canton tomorrow, he'll have gone 19 days without campaigning in the Buckeye State. His last stop here was in Cuyahoga Falls on Oct. 2.

To his credit, Suellentrop notes that Bush is in Canton today, and notes recent visits by Cheney and Rice. (In fact, I came to Suellentrop’s story by Mickey Kaus , who interprets it as news that Bush is giving up on Ohio. Maybe my bigger beef is with Kaus.)

In addition to Cheney and Rice, the Bush campaign did the NASCAR tour through Ohio, and the Kerry Spot readers who follow NASCAR say that is a big deal. Apparently these drivers generate fantastic enthusiasm and loyalty. Although Jeff Gordon is not one of the racers involved. Duane Patterson can explain this stuff better than I can.

But as for Bush’s upcoming plans for Ohio, say it with me: “Ar-nie.” Der Governator and the President, final week of the campaign, in the Buckeye state. A reprise of Schwarzenegger’s convention “If you believe… then you are a Republican” speech. Repeating lines from movies.

I suspect the Bush strategy is to build up as much support as possible in all the competitive blue states, until the final four or five days before the election, and then focus on the two red states Bush needs to keep - Ohio and Florida.

[Posted 10/22 09:15 AM]