McCain stunned political observers, including those of us in the WBUR Newsroom, when he announced Wednesday a suspension of campaign activities (NPR) to focus on the economic crisis. McCain asked his Obama to agree to postpone Friday’s debate. WBUR’s political analysts say McCain is making a big political gamble, just as he did in selecting Sarah Palin as a running mate. Slate’s John Dickerson says it’s “McCain’s latest crazy, brilliant, desperate campaign tactic.”
This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately in 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess. I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.
Despite the disagreement, debate preparations continue (Washington Post) at the University of Mississippi, where the event remains on the schedule. If Obama shows up and the cameras are rolling, what happens if McCain is a no-show? Even Republican strategist Karl Rove, in today’s Wall Street Journal, says the first debate could be decisive for the election. And the Christian Science Monitor has proposed 15 questions for the first debate.
WBUR’s senior media analyst says this year’s ad campaigns by “527″ advocacy groups are not quite political advertising as usual.
Meanwhile, Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard says the media is Barack Obama’s not-so-secret weapon.
Speaking of media, both candidates have new political ads out today (via RealClearPolitics blog). Obama attacks McCain on healthcare.
McCain links Obama to the “corrupt Chicago political machine.”
As Obama and John McCain meet in the first debate of the presidential campaign later this week, NPR’s Steve Inskeep and Cokie Roberts look at how the huge Wall Street bailout is likely to play out in the political sphere.
Bloomberg’s Albert Hunt says Obama, not McCain, is showing the steady hand as the financial markets implode. But Republican strategist Ed Rollins says both candidates are botching the response to the crisis.
With just days to go before the Democratic convention, pollsters check in with likely voters in the battleground states that may decide the presidential election. (NPR) (more…)
A new survey from the Pew Research Center this week shows Democrat Barack Obama’s eight percent lead over Republican John McCain is now down to three percent. That’s a statistical tie.
Analyst Steven Stark is covering the presidential race for the Boston Phoenix and RealClearPolitics.com. He says the close contest shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“Mitt Romney, John McCain’s former chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, will endorse the Arizona senator, officials familiar with the decision said Thursday”
Conservative talk radio has been raging against John McCain but John McCain is winning anyway. Why? Listen to an On Point conversation on what now for Rush Limbaugh and his legions with Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review Online, Ross Douthat, senior editor and blogger for The Atlantic Monthly, and Brian Maloney, conservative analyst and author of the blog radioequalizer.
CNN projects Romney as winner in Bay State and McCain winning both Connecticut and Illinois. On the Democratic side, Obama is the projected winner of Illinois and Clinton takes Oklahoma.
Rasmussen telephone poll has him with small lead over McCain in Florida, though trailing the Arizona senator by five points in Rasmussen’s national tracking poll.
From Gallup: “Sen. Barack Obama has taken a substantial lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democratic likely voters in New Hampshire, and Sen. John McCain now has a modest lead among likely Republican voters.”
After coming second in the Iowa caucuses, the former Massachusetts governor is bombarding the airwaves and has seven face-to-face events today. But he’s up against significant challenges in the form of Senator John McCain, who is either slightly ahead in the latest polls, or statistically even with the former Massachusetts governor.
WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov catches up with John McCain in New Hampshire where the political maverick has been campaigning hard. The poll of Granite State voters shows the Arizona senator leading Massachusetts’ former Governor Mitt Romney by 31 to 25 percent.
