McCain in Defiance Ohio

To add what to Cameron said,McCain visited Defiance Ohio today (Thursday). According to McCain, he will not give up the fight in Ohio - b/c of his Maverickness- stating that they were going to defy pundit expectations in Ohio. The second day of a ten day bus trip in Ohio, McCain so far has toured in primarily Republican territory. Near the end of his trip, McCain will go eastward to liberal-leaning city Cleveland where he will attempt to win the hearts and minds of the independents and conservative Democrats. McCain has relentlessly continued to depict Senator Obama as a socialist and has told Ohioans that the economy will worsen under all round control by the Democrats (House/Senate/President).


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Is the End Near for McCain?

On Sunday McCain visited Cedar Falls Iowa, Zanesville Ohio, and Lancaster Ohio. On Monday he visited Dayton Ohio, Pottsville Pennsylvania, and Mentor Ohio. On Tuesday McCain visited Hershey Pennsylvania, and Fayetteville North Carolina. On Wednesday the citizens of Miami Florida have the privilege their very own Joe the Plumber Rally.
It is doubtful that McCain can win Pennsylvania or even Ohio at this point unless the polls are seriously flawed. It seems that he has also abandoned his short attempt to court voters in New Hampshire. There have been no big recent gains by McCain but only after the election can we know for sure.

McCain turns to New Mexico

Going to the wild west where true Jacksonian democracy was created, John McCain spent his Saturday campaigning in New Mexico. With the amount of swing states seeming to diminish as the polls show Obama with an ever-growing lead,McCain is aware of the urgent task at hand. To make up for the possibility of losing swing states such as Virginia,the McCain campaign has focused of late on New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. Speaking to a small group (under 1,000 people), McCain has stepped up the attacks on Senator Obama, "Senator Obama is measuring the drapes and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending and concede defeat in Iraq" (San Diego Union Tribune). McCain will be off to Iowa in vain search of a victory in the corn state (people there are not too pleased with McCain's stance on subsidies for corn ethanol).

McCain's Chances Looking Slim

John McCain visited Ohio on the 22nd in the cities of Findlay, Green, Cincinnati and Troy. On the 20th of October he visited Missouri, Colorado and Pennsylvania. According to pollster.com Obama has been solidifying his lead while McCain has barely improved his poll numbers. McCain is now making a late effort to win New Hampshire. Although he has made small gains in some swing states it is questionable whether he has enough time to recover.

McCain in North Carolina and Virginia

On Saturday, Barack Obama drew an estimated 100,000 supporters at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis Missouri. Meanwhile, John McCain campaigned in North Carolina and Virginia; both traditionally Republican states but currently classified as "swing states". While McCain drew fewer crowds (around 7,000 in N.C.), he gave his opponent no mercy. McCain criticized Obama's tax plan, calling it "socialism" and declared that under an Obama administration the IRS will be turned into "a giant welfare agency". In just over two weeks we will see whether the "Bradley Effect" will decide the winner.

McCain Debate

First make sure you have done the required reading here and here. The first is a great summary and the second is a quick fact check both from NPR.org. States rights and judicial nominations were part of the debate for a time which was great to hear although they were in the context of roe v. wade.  McCain has introduced a new character into the American political vocabulary "Joe the plumber" who took the place of "Joe six pack" or other personifications of the average American in the debate. The debate, like most political debates had no clear winner. But as pointed out by NPR during their post debate broadcast Obama accomplished his goal of creating trust with the American people, while McCain did not manage to discredit the Obama campaign. Although from a policy standpoint McCain surely appealed to the conservative voter it seems as though he failed to appeal to the swing voters. 

McCain gets nailed by John Lewis

John McCain will be appearing on the David Letterman show Thursday night, making up for the last minute cancellation three weeks previous due to the financial crisis. In other more important news,Senator McCain is shocked by the comments made by Georgian congressman John Lewis who compared the McCain campaign to that of segregationist George Wallace. Before the charge made by Lewis, McCain praised him for his efforts in the civil rights movement and considered him to be "one of three men he would turn to for counsel as president"(CNN). Senator McCain has called on Barack Obama to renounce Lewis'comments. Spokesman Bill Burton of the Obama campaign released the message that Obama disagrees in what Lewis said but the Georgian congressman "was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night". Watch the Letterman show on Thursday, it should be interesting.

More Debate Opinions

According to an article at the Huffington Post in both CBS and NBC's focus groups of independent voters more individuals believed that Obama was victorious in the debate. According to Survey USA 54 percent of voters who watched the debate in Washington believed that Obama won. More importantly Ohio surveys indicated that Obama was the clear victor according to 54% of those polled compared to McCain's 30%. See the article here.

McCain Campaign Update

According to the John McCain website and other sources McCain has not been campaigning since Saturday although Governor Palin has made visits to multiple states. McCain's next scheduled campaign stop is to Waukesha, Wisconsin on Thursday October 9th. The initial analysis of the debate between McCain and Obama on Tuesday October 7th mostly indicates that McCain did not come away ahead but that he showed that he understood the economy. It seems unlikely that this debate will have a significant impact on the race. Some analysis can be found here. 

McCain in Arizona

McCain, as of right now is in his home state of Arizona preparing for the next debate versus Barack Obama. McCain's daughter, Meagan is currently campaigning in Ohio for her father. Ohio, as in the past two elections, will be a major battleground State between the two parties.

Economy not Helping Out McCain

Recently, John McCain has been weakened by the faltering economy. John McCain has been attempting to paint Barack Obama as the most liberal politician in the U.S. Senate. With 159,000 jobs lost in September alone, McCain has been unable to get people to trust him on the economy. According to Michael Cooper of the New York Time News Service, "polls have shown that voters trust Obama more to handle the economy". Barack Obama associates these job loses due to the policies of the GOP. If the circumstances were different with economic turmoil during the end of the second term of a Democrat, more people would trust in the Republican candidate b/c the Democrats would be considered at fault for the worsening economy. At this point in time with only a month left before the elections, it seems that the best chance McCain has of winning will rely on his ability to portray Barack Obama as inexpierenced for the job.

The battle continues

Senator John McCain ended his campaign in Michigan due to his campaign's belief that the state is not win able. McCain has appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" where he discussed the pork barrel spending in the new bailout plan. On Thursday the senator was campaigning in Denver hoping to win Colorado a swing state. on Wednesday McCain was in Missouri. he spent 24 hours in Iowa around Des Moines, this is an attempt to keep the state that Bush narrowly won in 2004. McCain has been taking heat recently over his past statements over regulatory policy where he stated that he was overall in favor of deregulation.