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My friend and colleague, Pat Ottenhoff, had an interesting analysis of Virginia back in June that could be on the money:

Major federal contractors set up shop in Northern Virginia and, in turn, subcontracted work to technology firms that hired accountants and lawyers. The young professionals who work at those firms in Tysons Corner, Reston and Ashburn are part of Obama’s core constituency. But the ideology and lifeblood of many of these firms is rooted in continued defense spending — one part of the Bush legacy that McCain would be sure to continue. In an election in which Republicans’ Iraq policy will hurt McCain in almost every state, his bullish foreign policy could actually help him in some quarters of Virginia.

Let’s forgive Pat for missing the economic crisis and improvement in Iraq and focus on the basic economic point for a moment. When Barney Frank said that he would cut defense spending by 25%, both resonating with an image of Barack Obama and particular statements, an opportunity was created.

Significant defense cuts have the opportunity to creat massive economic dislocations for people and communities. And they know it. Just look at the terror in Northern Virginia over BRAC. John McCain’s campaign figured this out. This is basic paycheck issue for a lot of hard-working people. Suddenly, Barack Obama’s "radicalism" means something to real people. Let’s look at some numbers.

The key thing to realize hereis that you can cut ads in these states and people will get it. Imagine scripts like these:

Barack Obama doesn’t just endanger our national security wtih his untested ideas, he  endangers [state]’s economic security.  In [state], that means [jobs] jobs. And it just starts there. When you remove those jobs from [state] everyone suffers from even lower house prices to the damage done to small businesses.

These can be supplemented with statements by local politians who, inevitably, fell over themselves to talk about BRAC and the damage that removing even one office at one military base, or even civilian office, would do to the community.

This is an issue that, when tied with Joe the Plumber and whatever crazy ACORN or whatever else stuff pops over the weekend can resonate with John McCain’s underlying message. These are real issues. Barack Obama is talking about "change", while John McCain is talking about what’s in your pocket-book. That’s something that people understand and that we need to nail the last 5 days of the campaign.

Send Ed Tinsley, a good conservative, to Congress instead

A bad year for Republicans might give New Mexicans a bad
Congressman:

Help
Ed Tinsley and don’t let this defendant go to Congress.

Obama, Virginia Board of Elections, and Virginia AG call for
them to be counted

Today, the
Fairfax Times reports that Rokey Suleman still is not counting
those military ballots
we have been telling you about:

“It kills me to not count those votes,” Suleman said.
“As much as I hate the law, I can’t ignore it.”

Rokey must know something we don’t know. And
something that the State Board of Elections doesn’t know,
because they have told him the votes should be counted. And
Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell. And even
Barack Obama’s campaign thinks the votes should be counted.

Only little Rokey Suleman thinks that he is following the law.
And in his moment of bravery, he is throwing our soldiers under the
bus.

How about you tell Rokey what the law actually is? And ask him
why he refuses to implement the law as interpreted by the Attorney
General and the State Board of Elections.

Rokey Suleman
Fairfax County General Registrar
703-222-0776
Rokey.Suleman@fairfaxcounty.gov

And join a Facebook
group to send him a message.

They even attack AP for getting story wrong

The Juneau Empire notes that Alaska
Democrats are defending Sarah Palin on the pipeline and
demonstrates how poor a job the AP is doing:

Alaska legislators are criticizing a story on Gov.
Sarah Palin by The Associated Press that challenged Palin’s top
accomplishment as governor – jump-starting progress on a natural
gas pipeline.

“I thought it was a pretty shoddy reporting job, honestly,” said
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, among many Democrats and
supporters of Barack Obama who are coming to Palin’s defense.

Note that the AP reporters that wrote on this probably don’t
understand what exactly happened:

The AP reporters said seeking an independent pipeline
ultimately favored TransCanada and excluded the producers, which
was why the process was flawed.

This was the point indeed. The reason was that if the incumbent
producers controlled the pipeline, then they wouldn’t sell access
to anyone but themselves (extraction is way more profitable than
shipping the stuff), and that would not spur development. By having
a third-party own the pipeline means that there incentive is to
ship as much as possible. Again, that was the point:

Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, Senate minority
leader, called the story “way off base.”

“We just wanted the attributes of an independently operated
pipeline company, one that would protect the interests of Alaska,”
he said.

The Legislature spent much of the summer in special session,
considering and rejecting those arguments, Therriault and
Wielechowski said.

“The producers having complete control of the oil pipeline has
cost the state of Alaska billions of dollars over the years; that’s
a fact. We’ve had less exploration and less drilling on the North
Slope because the smaller independents have been squeezed out and
because they can’t pay exorbitant tariffs,” Wielechowski said.

The AP story quoted only two legislators, Senate President Lyda
Green, R-Wasilla, and Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, both in the
minority who voted against the TransCanada deal.

In other words, the AP reporters got owned by probably corrupt
Republicans in bed with the incumbent actors in the oil industry.

I think that we’ve heard that story before. Right
Ben and Ted?