After his big win in the South Carolina primary, Senator Obama delivers 15 minutes of thanks, inspiration, uplift and practical politics. (“We’re up against the idea that it’s acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election.”) Like him or not, if you don’t think the man can lay down some words and move people, you’re not really listening.
Sound Bite: “In nine short days nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business as usual in Washington. We are hungry for change and we are ready to believe again.”
Sound Bite: “I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina.”
Sound Bite: “This election is about the past versus the future. It’s about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation.”
Exiting a town-hall meeting, Democratic frontrunner, er, campaign surrogate, er, candidate spouse Bill Clinton tells a gaggle of reporters that the “Obama people” are spinning the media into covering issues that the people of South Carolina “don’t care about.”
Amid chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” and “Mac is back,” Senator John McCain thanks his supporters in Charleston and notes that for the past 28 years the winner of the South Carolina Republican primary has won the party’s nomination.
Sound Bite: “It took us awhile but what’s eight years among friends.”
The McCain campaign has been taking some flak from Huckabee supporters in South Carolina, so what to do? Release a “web ad” using Huck’s own words in praise of McCain.
Even though he’s the only southerner in the race, John Edwards faces a tough battle in the South Carolina primary. Will these four 10-second spots help him get a seat at the big table?
“Dime”
Guess “which Democrat has never taken a dime of campaign money from Washington lobbyists?”
“Deal”
Guess “which Democrat opposed NAFTA and other trade deals that send American jobs overseas?”
“Beats”
Guess “who’s the only Democrat that beats all the Republicans in the recent CNN poll?”
“Ban”
Guess “who’s the only Democrat who would ban Washington lobbyists from the White House staff?
“I’m a conservative“ says folksy Fred Thompson. “Always have been. Always will be.” And that means he’s pro-life, he’s against amnesty for illegals, he’ll lower taxes and he’ll protect us against Islamic radicals.
The Huckabee campaign moves on to South Carolina with — guess who? — Chuck Norris front-and-center, along with sparring partner former South Carolina Governor David Beasley.
John Edwards reminds South Carolina primary voters that he was born in South Carolina, that his daddy worked in the mills, that he was the first member of his family to go to college, that big corporations control Washington and that he will never forget where he came from.
John Edwards has a new 30-second spot running in South Carolina. He talks about his hardscabble youth — dad had to borrow $50 to “bring me home,” the mills where his father worked closed (but you knew that) and John saw “how devastating bad government and corporate greed can be.”
Sound Bite: “Growing up here. You never stop fighting and you never forget where you came from.”
MESS
In a 30-second ad running in Iowa, Edwards says “We’re going to have to be willing to take on this corrupt system and change it,” or we’re going to leave “our children” with a “mess.”
The Edwards campaign has launched its first ad in South Carolina. Yep, he’s standing in front of that damn mill where his daddy used to work but now it’s closed.
Sound Bite: “We don’t need another president who puts wealth above work.”
Spacey Gracey warns Rudy Giuliani in a video that her neighbors in South Carolina aren’t known for the openmindedness Rudy ascribes to them and that they’ll see him as nothing but a ferner.
