So, this is the best that that "great" intellect Michael Barone can come up with? Pathetic

[cali]

Obama Wins by Going Negative and Turning Out Base

<snip>

Obama owes most of his electoral vote majority of 332 to negative campaigning. His strategists barraged the target states of Florida, Ohio and Virginia with attack ads against Romney for months.

The ads took a toll. Preliminary figures show that outside the eight clear target states, Obama's percentage declined by 2.8 points. In the firewall states, it was down by only 1.4 points and in five other target states by only 2.1 points.

That enabled him to win those three firewall states by a total of about 250,000 votes. A 2.8 percent swing everywhere would have left him narrowly ahead in the popular vote and with 290 electoral votes.

<snip>

So Obama owes most of his victory margin to negative personal campaigning, while Republicans held the House despite -- or because of -- their opposition to big-government policies.

<snip>

http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2012/11/12/obama_wins_by_going_negative_and_turning_out_base/page/2

[MineralMan]

1. I saw a lot of ads this campaign season. What I saw

was heavily negative Republican ads, and generally positive, hopeful Democratic ads. I'm not sure what ads Barone saw.

[BlueToTheBone]

2. They just can't quit projecting

their own behaviors onto others.

[NC_Nurse]

3. He's just trying not to piss any of the diehards off by telling them they have to change.

[Horse with no Name]

4. I think this election was a bellwether

It woke people up to the dirty tricks of the republicans.

It forced people to see that their voting rights and their way of life basically were in jeopardy at the hands of the republicans and empowered them to fight back against that.

This country spoke loud and clear...

The only ones weren't listening were the die hard republican racists, fundies and other fringe loons. THAT is the republican electorate at this particular time in history. I can pretty much guarantee that every last one of them came out and cast a vote. We know WHO they are and how many of them there are.

This election was not about forcing the Democrats to compromise. This election was about people believing that the Democrats would preserve their rights and do the right thing, regardless of republican obstruction and tricks.

[Angry Dragon]

5. What I can not understand is why ads that point out the lies of your opponent

are called negative ads

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Mikey, Mikey, Mikey

Telling the truth about someone isn't negative campaigning. The inference taken by hearing the truth might be negative, but that doesn't make it a negative ad.

And, even if one buys that pointing out an opponents foibles in an unflattering light is negative, it's disingenuous to suggest that the same thing wasn't happening from the Romney, and that didn't work.

So, the negativity had nothing to do with anything.

Mikey is such a silly boy.
GAC

[mn9driver]

7. Barone predicted sweeping Romney win

just days before the election. Like all wingers, it couldn't possibly be that he had his head up his arse, so it must be that Obama is bad. And black.

[SDjack]

8. DEMs, we see how it is done and the results. Keep pouring it on! nt