Joe Klein reports from a focus group of undecided voters that would seem to carry some bad news for Obama. I'm glad, however, that it backs up one of my central beliefs about political advertising, which is that ads with great-sounding promises -- a $1,000 tax cut while our opponent will kick your puppy! -- set off people's bullshit detectors. The focus group also makes clear that one of the interesting subthemes of this convention will be the degree to which McCain has effectively recast Obama's incredible speeches as a negative, as evidence of his lack of substance. It's one of the more impressive bits of political jujitsu we've seen in years, and it's created an odd situation where the better and more exciting a speech Obama gives, the more it could potentially sow mistrust amongst wavering voters.
