There has been a lot of discussion recently about how the length of the primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could potentially harm the Democratic nominee. If negative campaign tactics continue to be used despite the fact that it is very likely Obama will be the nominee, then I believe these concerns might turnout to be true. That being said, there is a good chance that the extended primary will actually benefit the Democratic nominee.
Due to the fact that the Republican nominee was evident quite awhile ago, the media has been paying more attention to the primary on the Democratic side. This ultimately means that the media has also uncovered some potential scandals involving Obama. After his numbers taking a slight dip after the media began focusing on issues such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright, however, Obama’s campaign has rebounded and continues to have electoral success. With this scandals in the past, he’s now able to begin building his organization for the general election is has a better understanding of how the public might react to some of the attacks the Republicans will launch at him.
While the media attention has been focused on the Democrats, many people have rightfully pointed out how the media has yet to fully dive into many of the skeletons that could be hiding in the closet. Now that it appears as though the general election field is set, the media will likely begin paying closer attention to John McCain’s candidacy. As Obama pointed out at a campaign stop in Oregon today, this will result in McCain also facing a heap of scrutiny.
“I would expect that the press will submit him to the same scrutiny that they are submitting me — and if they don’t, I’ll have them talk to you because I can tell you would object,” he said. “I think people will lift the hood and kick the tires with John McCain, just like they do with me and just like they’ve done with Sen. Clinton. I think you’re applying for the presidency of the United States of America, then by definition you have given up your privacy and basically I think people are gonna want to know what you’ve done in your life and what you stand for.”
With the mainstream media beginning to apply scrutiny to McCain’s candidacy at this point in the race could prove to be extremely beneficial for the Democratic nominee. Not only will McCain not be able to see how the public reacted to the scandal during a tough primary, but these revelations will also come much closer to the general election. Not only does this mean McCain won’t have as much time to spin the scandals away, but it is also more likely that voters will be thinking about these scandals than scandals involving Obama that came out months ago.
So while negative campaigning might create some troubles for the Democratic nominee in the general election, the way the media has covered this race will likely result in the extended primary actually helping Obama. Of course it probably doesn’t hurt that Obama has already had the backing of grassroots and netroots activists for quite some time now.
Filed under: Virginia Politics
