Six months out

[Joe Biden 2020]

As of today, Sunday, 6 May 2012, we are exactly 6 months from the 2012 Presidential Election.

We are 3 1/2 months from the 2012 Republican National Convention and 4 months from the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Both the Romney campaign and the Obama campaign are starting to trade jabs at each other with Romney crying foul over the Chinese/US Diplomatic Screw up this past week.

It hasn't been particularly nasty up to this point, though, between the two sides.  When do you expect the campaign ads to increase in the nastiness factor?

More importantly, what do you expect will be the major storylines of the next 6 months?

[Franzl]

I'm hoping to ignore this as much as possible until a few weeks before the election.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm hoping to ignore this as much as possible until a few weeks before the election.

Good luck!

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I think the RNC has a winner with their "Hype and Blame" schtick. That's really gonna empower the base and resonate with disillusioned Independents.

I don't see it picking up much steam early on. But once Obama enters full campaign mode and people start to see how he diverts attention from his record... that's when it'll resonate. Especially with bad summer jobs numbers.

So bottom line: I think the themes of Hype and Blame will become pretty prominent. Obama will be typical Obama with flashy speeches and excitable crowds--in the end, that could undermine him.

[m4567]

I think the RNC has a winner with their "Hype and Blame" schtick. That's really gonna empower the base and resonate with disillusioned Independents.

I don't see it picking up much steam early on. But once Obama enters full campaign mode and people start to see how he diverts attention from his record... that's when it'll resonate. Especially with bad summer jobs numbers.

So bottom line: I think the themes of Hype and Blame will become pretty prominent. Obama will be typical Obama with flashy speeches and excitable crowds--in the end, that could undermine him.

Is the economy the only thing that counts a record? Even so, although it's far from booming, it's a lot better than it was, the past 2-3 years. The job growth may or may not pick up, the rest of the year.

As for Romney, what does he really have going for him? He was a fairly unpopular one-term governor.  He's not boring, but he doesn't have much vision, excitement, or likeability. He will have a lot of negative ads, though.