That other Comeback Kid - McCain stays in the fight
By E.J. Dionne Jr.,
NEW YORK
Whenever McCain is up, he has this uncanny ability to bring himself down. He turns in his best performances when he's in danger of losing it all.
Wednesday's debate in New York did not so much decide the election as prevent it from being decided in Obama's favor. It was that important, and McCain knew it. By finally managing, on the third try, to be forceful without being obnoxious, McCain set himself up for one more comeback in a campaign where coming back has been his central preoccupation. Maybe McCain just wants to out-comeback the Comeback Kid.
Obama confirmed that he plans to win on sweeping themes, not specifics.... But Obama also promises to encourage ''Republicans and Democrats to forget all the arguing and finger-pointing and come together.''
Calling for an end to finger-pointing and pointing fingers at the same time is a neat trick if you can make it work....Obama has pulled off this balancing act with great skill. The central question of the campaign is: Can he hold his balance for two more weeks?
McCain did everything he could to shake Obama off the high wire, and Obama got very wobbly at moments. With McCain pressing Gore hard for an explanation of his positions...
Interesting article? From - 2000. For those getting a little nervous or wanting to see how things looked in previous elections, this was an article from Boston's Daily Globe on 10/19/2000. I hope Mr. Dionne, doesn't mind the comparison. The Words in italics have been changed. Mostly - Bush to Obama and McCain to Gore. It's not a transcript that works verbatium - Obama, for instance, has put some details to his plan. At the time, Bush was up 45.9 to 41.2 according to the Real Clear Politics average.
Take aways? Real Clear Politicsis pegging the election at 49.5 to 42.6 (a 6.8 lead vs. a 4.7 lead) and 20 days out (in 2000) vs 18 days today. The election did tighten very much in 2000 - obviously. With Gore picking up slightly more of the popular vote. The biggest difference was that the Electoral College in 2000 was 212 (Bush) vs 202 (Gore) aggregated across pollsters. This year it is 286 (Obama) vs 158 (McCain). A much more significant deficit for McCain than for Gore. The moral of the story is the election did tighten and this year's election will too. As Obama has pointed out yesterday - we can't get complacent and Democrat's are famous for snatching defeat out of victory. If polls close, as they seem to be doing, we need to remain positive, focus on getting out the message, and realize we will win this election if we stay vigilent.