Obama Ad Blitz Stifles McCain

Defends use of same tactic used against him in 2000

(NEWSER) - John McCain defended his use of robocalls on Fox News Sunday, arguing his attacks on Barack Obama are different from the slanderous calls that targeted him during the 2000 primaries, Politico reports. “These are legitimate and truthful and they are far different than the phone calls that were made about my family,” he said. On other talk shows:

• Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told This Week with George Stephanopoulos that Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama “eliminated the experience argument."

Republican undercuts Obama with blend of mockery, fake sincerity

(NEWSER) - Between one ad hailing Barack Obama as the Messiah and another comparing him to Paris Hilton, John McCain’s camp might be running the most sarcastic presidential campaign in history, Michael Crowley writes in the New Republic. The tactic is “in stark conflict with his image as a straight-shooting man of noble values,” Crowley writes. “The question is whether he can really be both things at once.” More»

(NEWSER) - The 2008 election marked the death knell of post-Watergate public financing, Mark Schmitt writes for the American Prospect, but the raft of small donations that killed the system heralds a hopeful future. The public financing system was designed—and failed—to limit the influence of special interests: “Since the ability to organize was distributed unequally, regulating organizing was essential to equality.” But the emergence of the Internet allowed small donors to organize with a powerful voice. More»

Last state to be called leaves tally at Obama 365, McCain 173

(NEWSER) - Missouri, the last state up for grabs, looks to have gone Republican by less than a 1% margin, leaving John McCain with 173 electoral votes to Barack Obama’s 365, the Kansas City Star reports. There are still 3,000 uncounted provisional ballots, but McCain’s margin is large enough to declare him the winner of the state’s 11 electoral votes. More»

(NEWSER) - President-elect Barack Obama addressed the country and the world for the first time tonight, vowing to unite a nation beset by trouble at home and abroad, the Chicago Tribune reports. "Change has come to America," Obama told a crowd of tens of thousands at Chicago's Grant Park and millions more watching around the world. "Our stories are singular, but our destinies are shared." More»