Out of time

Obama on McCain’s last(?)-ditch effort:
“Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance,” he said. “They’d rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up.  That’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas, and running out [...]

Omaha?

More evidence that McCain is very much on the defensive:
Only Nebraska and Maine divide their state electoral votes on a district-by-district basis rather than winner take all. For those who remember the proportional allocation of the Democratic delegate race during the nomination battle, Nebraska is significant because a wider statewide loss can be mitigated by [...]

Hail Mary Pass #4

McCain’s always been better as the underdog, so this new strategy to get tough on Obama could work for him.  If anyone can pull it off it’s probably him.  But after the last debate a lot of people noted that Obama looked happy and optimistic while McCain just looked grumpy.  Americans don’t vote for grumpy–or [...]

Slate V: From the Conventions to the First Debate in 3 minutes

more about “Slate V: From the Conventions to the …“, posted with vodpod

VP Debate

First impressions: No major gaffes on either side, except maybe the part where Palin endorsed Cheney’s view on the role of (and rules governing) the VP.  I don’t think she really understood the question.  No totally obvious deer-in-the-headlights moments, though.  I thought the times when Palin called Biden naive just made her look silly.  Biden [...]

Letterman vs. McCain

Via Politico, David Letterman on McCain’s big announcement today:
“What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!”
Here’s the full video, in case CBS is vigilant about taking down YouTube clips:

The ground game

An interesting dispatch from Colorado over at FiveThirtyEight.com, comparing the campaigns’ organizational strategies:
To be a professional poker player, one success principle you must learn is “Losing the Minimum.” Everyone who plays seriously knows that players go through stretches where they can’t catch a break and make a series of strong 2d-best hands that cost them [...]

Obama’s press conference today

The video is below.  When asked why he won’t agree to postpone the debate(s), Obama points out that the men who would be President should be able to do two (or more!) things at once.
Is McCain trying to seem even older than he is?  James Fallows proposes one potential response from voters:
The candidate who wants [...]

What Obama wanted

What Obama wanted to include in the candidates’ joint statement today.  A question I’d like to hear asked at Friday’s debate (assuming McCain shows up): Why did McCain reject those points, and what policy priorities would he have included instead?

My dog ate my economic plan

Slate’s John Dickerson via Twitter just now:
“McCain suspending campaign to handle econ.crisis. Debate prep. apparently not going that well. I tried this with papers in college but wow.”
This is still the real world and not some elaborate episode of Punk’d, right?