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Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain appeared to moderate their personal attacks on their rivals on the stump. Obama turned to substance, unveiling a plan to boost small business. McCain did too, offering retirement savings relief for seventysomething investors. "Gone," stated NBC's Lee Cowan, were Obama's earlier charges that McCain is "erratic or risky." ABC's John Berman (at the tail of the Wright videostream) saw Obama performing a "delicate dance" on the stump, delivering one part "political punch," one part "economic pep rally." NBC's Kelly O'Donnell (at the tail of the Cowan videostream) observed McCain as he "gently admonished supporters" that Obama is "a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared of as President." McCain may be moderating the nastiness in his tone because "it does not seem to be working," opined Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' Sunday morning show Face the Nation. He "did not have much of a week this week--a better week than the stock market probably but not a very good week." ABC's David Wright (embargoed link) did note, however, that on television, McCain's advertising remains negative, playing a tagline from a new spot: Obama's Blind Ambition. When Convenient He Worked With Terrorist Bill Ayers.
Speaking of negative campaigning, that was the topic of Jeff Greenfield's weekly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly CBS feature on campaign highs and lows. There are three ways a negative ad can backfire, he argued: distortions, untruths or going too far. His favorite "going too far" was from 1992 when then President George Bush attacked Arkansas for its subpar performance under Bill Clinton as governor. His ad made the state look like "something out of a Stephen King novel."
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