probably a dumb cracker or 2 or 3.
he needs oprah's crackers.
he needs oprah's crackers.
Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:
It's the same in the market. If it's obvious to smart participants that a companies sales are off and the company releases a bullish report what happens. Buyers off the report get stuffed by sellers because the sellers look at the report as old news. Many of these polls are still either pre-Palin as Veep or pre-RNC speech Palin. Old. The market KNOWS that a 56-44 poll for Obama in August is now a 50-50 ish poll. Intrade moves before the poll numbers. Consistently.
Quote from BlindLemonBoosh:
Recent polls and Intrade are not out of synch if you accept the premise that McCain will pick up the majority ('70%' was espoused on Meet the Press today) of the 'undecided' vote come election day. If so, the dead heats we've been seeing in raw poll numbers are indicative of a slight McCain advantage - as suggested by the present Intrade numbers.
As you well know, the Intrade numbers are more volatile than poll numbers because they have two very different meanings. Intrade measures the perceived probability of an event's occurance. If the poll numbers favor Obama 57-43 the day before the election, you can bet that his Intrade number will be somewhere north of 90. In this scenario, both indictors suggest a very very likely victory. However, the movement in the Intrade number obviously LOOKS much more dramatic.
A 15 point Intrade move corresponds to nothing more than a change from 'slight favorite' to 'slight underdog' in this case. Another 12-15 points in the same direction would have the Conservatives feeling pretty darn confident. We're not there yet. I don't expect to see that type of number (for either side) until exit polls are being conducted. Even then, remember what early exit polls were telling us about the 2004 election. I seem to remember Kerry being the prohibitive favorite for a few fleeting moments.
Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:
Very good post and you're absolutely on target. I'm impressed, really!!
And you probably remember how stocks went into a mini plunge that 2004 morning off those misguided exit polls (the ones Big Dave thinks use "science") only to rally like 50 ES handles the next 3 days post-Bush victory.
Quote from BlindLemonBoosh:
Yes, but, this is the type of market movement that actually means something to the average American.
http://www.investopedia.com/article...l-party-democrat-republican-stock-returns.asp
Quote from BlindLemonBoosh:
I have no real beef with your position here, which is well thought out. I pull out that particular statistical tidbit when I smell a hint of the ol' "markets do better under Republicans" BS. {A fair amount of (predominately Conservative) people actually believe that crap.} It appeared to me that you might be looking to go down that road with your statement about the 2004 rally.
I personally won't be basing any investment decisions upon the forthcoming election results.
Quote from ZZZzzzzzzz:
Reagan got elected by having "robotic followers sitting behind him waving signs."
So did Bush, twice.
Republicans run on personality, and their whole campaign is to employ ad hominem to attack the personality of the opposition candidate.
The Dems have traditionally run on issues, and having lost, they are just starting to understand that people aren't smart enough to make decisions who to vote for on political issues...it is a popularity contest.
Obama is torn, because he wants to talk about issues, but he also knows that the people aren't going to understand the issues he is talking about.
The issue is change, which is why the repubs are trying to divorce themselves from themselves, i.e. trying to distance themselves from their own president and their own corruption in D.C. by promoting McCain and Palin as agents of "change" in D.C.
It is a scam of course, and the ads are all focusing on meaningless and swift boat style politics...which obviously works.
Until the voters reject mud slinging and tell the politicians they demand substantive discussion of the issues and the specific plans to address the issues, Palin is going to hide, and McCain is going to deny what his campaign is doing.
Obama has to play dirty politics, which in a way is a test of his strength in a street fight...which is what the run for the presidency is. It is a street fight, and right now he has been losing.
