By Dick Bernard

Special to the Sentry

   With both major party conventions now wrapped up, it’s time to stake out the parameters of the next six weeks’ campaigning. In a nutshell, it’s a race for the minds of the voters who are still on the fence.

   Mugwumps: mug on one side, wump on the other.

   Mind gamesmanship is now the first order of business for the campaign managers. For the Republicans, it’s what manipulations will work; what pig in a poke will sell the best? For the Democrats, it’s a counter-move: how can we concentrate the mind of the voter and get him, or  especially her, to pause, think and focus.

   Moreover, it’s the media that now faces a frontal attack from the GOP. They have become the ‘enemy’. It’s up to the local press ( that’s  the Sentry for you in South Portland and the Daily Courier for us here in Grants Pass, Ore.) to cope with the charge that it is too liberal, too prone to gobble up Democrtatic party propaganda.  

    On the face of it, the charge belies the actual truth about both newspapers: they are moderately conservative, and by most objective standards, reliable and trustworthy. But judging by the general content of letters to the editor, the readership is far to the right of both newspapers. The object of the GOP is to neutralize the press, and at least get the conservative and right wing base firmly in line.

    Here is southern Oregon that object is to neutralize local Democrats, even give McCain/Palin the edge so that northern Oregon, dominated by metropolitan Portland, will have to work doubly hard to keep Oregon in the Demorcratic electoral column.

    Earlier in this short essay, I referred to the pig-in-a-poke ploy now being employed by the GOP. In essense, it is to present the VP package, i.e. Governor Palin, as a fully developed, major presence on the national scene without  disclosure of any specific particulars of her past record and performance. Accompaning it, is the direct charge that any investigation of her by the liberal press is tantamount to the infringement of Governor Palin’s right to privacy. That’s chutzpah of the first order.

   To use another metaphor, it’s as if your opponent hit you with a fish, then complained that you didn’t smell right.

   Right now, Maine is given the slight edge for Obama; as is Oregon. But who knows what mindsets will be changed by Nov. 4. Stay tuned.

    Dick Bernard is a former South Portland resident who now makes his home in Oregon.