(CNSNews.com) – Imagine if Sen. Barack Obama loses the presidential election by one vote, and imagine if you were the person who meant to vote for him but never made it to the polls.
Pretend it just happened. That’s the thrust of a new video from a liberal, pro-Obama group.
As polls show the presidential race tightening in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Florida, MoveOn.org is pressing a get-out-the-vote message with a “funny, scary video” showing people “what it might look like if we lose the election by a single vote.”
The video includes the name of the email recipient, making it look like Susan Jones (in my case) was the non-voter who cost Obama the election.
“U.S. elections are always close, but the nation was shocked Tuesday night to see John McCain defeat Barack Obama by a single vote,” intones a mock anchorman in the MoveOn.org video.
“For many, shock soon turned to outrage as The New York Times revealed the identity of the particular non-voter responsible for Obama’s loss,” the “anchorman” says, as the non-voter’s name appears in font on the “TV screen.”
“In just a few short days, this private citizen has become a national pariah,” the anchorman says. The video explains that police take the non-voter into protective custody, it shows Obama supporters letting loose with bleeped invective, and it includes soundbites from President Bush and Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly (favorite targets of the left) thanking the non-voter for being patriotic.
“Coming up – how long until we nuke Iran? Experts say it could be as early as Saturday,” the anchorman concludes, implying that John McCain will have his finger on the trigger, thanks to the single non-voter who cost Obama the election.
In an email message introducing the video, MoveOn.org lists some of the excuses people use for failing to go to the polls: “Oversleeping. Getting the car fixed. Having to pick up the second-cousin's stepkids on the other side of town.”
People want to vote, they know they should vote, and they intend to vote: “But some of your friends won’t get around to actually voting because they haven’t been reminded vividly enough.” the message said.
Obama himself has warned voters against complacency, apparently with good reason.
A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows McCain and Obama essentially even among likely voters, with Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, a statistically insignificant difference. A similar survey three weeks earlier showed Obama with a 7-point lead.
According to the Associated Press, “McCain appears to be gaining some traction with his anti-tax message.” The A.P. also reported that Obama is concerned about McCain’s “constant criticism that his tax plan would redistribute wealth, and is devoting more of his standard campaign speech to a point-by-point rebuttal of those arguments.”
McCain was making six stops in Florida on Thursday, and Obama was traveling to Hawaii to visit his ailing grandmother, after a morning campaign stop in Indiana.