Tuesday August, 06 Two new ads, new national poll, veepstakes buzz

There's a lot going on today, both within the "veepstakes" and also with the ongoing energy debate.
Both candidates have released new ads within the past 24 hours, both targeting the same battleground states that have seen a showering of ad-money in the past two months.
Obama still out-organizes McCain in virtually every state by almost embarrassing margins, but any edge Obama has in ground game has at least been matched by the McCain campaign holding it's own in television dollars, hitting early and often with sharp negative ads criticising Obama's worldwide "celebrity" and his energy policy. Continuing to use the "Obama! Obama!" chants and basically saying he has no energy plan to help the average American, while unlike his previous negative ads, the last half focuses on McCain's plan with lot's of positive things to say about himself, it could mean that, unlike last week's ads, he's maybe not trying to make the election ALL about the presumptive Democratic nominee
Here's McCain's new ad:



Obama also has his own ad, questioning McCain's "maverick" credentials and using McCain's own words to tie him to President Bush, oil company profits, and the slumping economy. This ad coincides with the DNC beginning it's "McCain-Exxon 08" campaign, creating a new line of campaign merchandise emblazoned with "McCain-Exxon '08" and with fake checks written to McCain from Exxon in the amount of millions of dollars..
Here's the Obama ad:



Here's a link to an example of the new "Exxon John" blog on the DNC website, which I believe over the next few days they're going to try and get as much hype as the RNC's smart "tire gauge" props that sold like hotcakes amongst conservatives and were mailed to journalists across the country.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/08/exxonmccain.php

Also there's a new TIME Magazine post that shows Obama 46, McCain 41.
There's been a lot of speculation about why Obama can't seem to "break" the 50 mark in a year that should be a walk for democrats, but no matter what speculation there is on margins in these polls and how Obama plays against "generic" democratic candidates, Obama has consistently polled within 3 - 7 percent ahead of McCain for the past two months and as long as he at least maintains this lead, then November 4th will be a good day for him.

The Evan Bayh veepstakes buzz is reaching a fevered pitch as Obama hit up the Hoosier state today giving a scathing review of John McCain's energy plan, Evan Bayh is no stranger to the VP buzz and played it like a pro as he and Obama preshed the flesh at a campaign stop in a diner in Elkhart, IN, playing coy for the press but being tight lipped and somber for the sake of the campaign.
Laura likes Kathleen Sebelius and I do too, but Bayh seems to be a master, and although his surrogate skills haven't been matched by the likes of John Kerry and Joe Biden, I can see Bayh turning into a media darling and frustrating the McCain campaign even more than it already is.
Take that Tim Kaine!