The first Morning Jolt of the week examines Newsweek telling Time, “We’ll see your crazy cover and raise you,”; how much stock to put in Romney’s surge in Rasmussen, and of course…

The Dueling Messages of This Week
Just a heads-up: The Romney message this week is, paraphrased, “The debt is too [darn] high.” The Obama message is, “Mitt Romney fired people.” We will see who wins.
Obama’s Garage Sale Speech
So I’m going to go out on a limb and say this event didn’t go quite as the Obama campaign planned:
As leader of the free world President Obama will be used to making speeches to millions of people around the globe.
So he might have felt the occasion was a little beneath him yesterday when he stopped off in Reno, Nevada, to deliver an address outside a couple’s garage.
In what could be a disastrous photo opportunity for the President’s campaign, Mr Obama spoke to a handful of people in the crucial swing state.
The president’s 15 minute address outside the home of Paul and Val Keller on Friday afternoon, drew a small audience of neighbours and supporters – though even his hosts said they were not sure if they would vote for him in the coming election.
This looks like a scene from HBO’s Veep.
“You want me to ‘mingle with the crowd’? Mingle? This crowd couldn’t fill a [farshunkin] canoe.”
“I’M GOING to overanalyze this a little more,” declares Ace at the Ace of Spades.I think Obama and his team are working to try to connect him with “real Americans.” Ok, here’s a couple. A retired electrician and his wife, a simple, nice home in a small neighborhood. Out in front of the garage with a nice looking flag hanging over it. I have one of those myself. It looks nice. It’s just, sheesh. Who’s going to see this as “connecting with ordinary Americans?” And is that even a good objective. He looks “small”, and looking small doesn’t really help him right now. He’s got all the advantages of an incumbent president. Power. Bully pulpit. Air Force One. The lapdog media. So standing behind a teensy podium, with a Presidential Seal smaller than the headlights on that Jeep behind him, it just seems to diminish him. I don’t think he can connect with Americans. He can connect with George Clooney, and Hollywood, and $15 million dollar bigshot lefty donors. But Paul and Val Keller?”
Moe Lane is starting to find mocking the president a little too easy.
Oh, isn’t this the cutest thing ever?
Obama’s got his little podium, and he’s got his little microphone, and, hey, Obama even has his Junior PotUS Presidential Seal to talk behind as he speaks to everybody on the whole block! Such a big boy, now. And he’ll probably be such a good President…
…once he grows up, of course.
PS: I am insulted that Team Obama made this one so easy for me. If those fools can’t bring their A-game, then they should just quit now and go home.
But Doug Powers gives Obama a little credit for his little appearance: “Notice something? No teleprompters. The Prez was working without a net last week. Gutsy Call!™ And I can’t believe somebody didn’t think to put a Volt in the garage before the cameras rolled.”