Last Friday John McCain's campaign announced that it had "scaled back" its operations in Michigan, fueling a growing perception that the McCain campaign is struggling.
According to the RealClearPolitics national poll average, McCain has been on a precipitous slide for the last month. One of the most drastic drops has come in the last two weeks, with polls showing a 4-point increase in Barack Obama's lead since McCain's announcement that he would be "suspending" his campaign to participate in negotiations surrounding the bailout bill.
Part of this slide can surely be attributed to time away from the campaign trail. After Sept. 24, the day he decided to halt his campaign, McCain went a full five days without campaign events, save one speech at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York and the presidential debate in Mississippi. McCain's recent slide in the polls could also be attributed to his decision to enmesh himself so intricately in the supremely unpopular bailout legislation.
But in the end, the real question for the McCain campaign is not what caused this slide but how to end it, and they made clear over the weekend that they plan to do so by taking the gloves off, as Sarah Palin described it.
Appearing in campaign stops across the country this week, Palin used the association between Obama and former Weather Underground member William Ayers as the cornerstone of a campaign questioning the Democrat's judgment and fitness for office. "The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn't been talked about," Palin said Saturday. "I think it's fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career -- in the guy's living room." (Democratic campaign aides say Obama and Ayers were not particularly friendly, and the candidate was not familiar with Ayers' radical history.)
But there is a subtext in the attacks that at times can become quite obvious. "This is not a man who sees America as you and I do," Palin told a crowd in Omaha, Neb. "We see America as the greatest force for good in this world. I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country."
Although McCain ignored Obama's personal associations when speaking at a rally in Albuquerque on Monday, he picked up on his running mate's central theme of Obama's difference.
"For a guy who's already authored two memoirs, he's not exactly an open book," McCain said. "It's as if somehow the usual rules don't apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he's above all that. Who is the real Barack Obama?"
While McCain also laid out his argument for Obama's words not matching his actions, this final question was a recurring theme of McCain's remarks that day.
"Who is the real Senator Obama?" McCain asked again at the end of his speech. "Is he the candidate who promises to cut middle-class taxes, or the politician who voted to raise middle-class taxes? Is he the candidate who talks about regulation, or the politician who took money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and turned a blind eye as they ran our economy into a ditch? Which one is it?"
McCain went on to contrast Obama's supposed unknowns with his own familiarity, telling attendees he "didn't just show up out of nowhere. After all -- America knows me."
But audiences this year haven't previously known the level of vitriol seen at some recent McCain-Palin events. At a rally attended by Palin in Jacksonville on Tuesday, one man in the crowd wore a shirt with a picture of Satan removing an Obama mask. And Lee County, Fla., Sheriff Mike Scott made headlines Monday when he used Obama's full name in a way some said suggested a tie to Islam.
The Palin campaign quickly called the comments "inappropriate," and senior advisers deny that painting Obama as "different" or somehow radical is part of their strategy. McCain's closing message will be the distance between Obama's words and his record, one adviser said, and by highlighting his different accounts of his relationship with Ayers, the McCain campaign hopes to show Obama will say anything for political expediency.
As Palin told an audience recently, "So, Florida, you know that you're gonna have to hang on to your hats, because from now until Election Day, it may get kinda rough."
Beat The Press
The vice presidential candidate is usually utilized as an attack dog, and Palin has proven adept in that role. But what has become striking is how much it has been picked up by the audiences, creating at times a tense atmosphere, especially for those there to cover the events.
On the stump and in her public statements, Palin has repeatedly sought to paint the mainstream media as the enemy, suggesting they are not asking tough questions of the Democrats' spending plans. She even used negative reviews of her recent interviews with CBS News to her advantage, suggesting she was frustrated with the questions she was being asked by Katie Couric.
On the road, reporters are frequently booed as they enter and leave Palin's campaign events. Cameramen who have gotten in front of supporters to get their shot have been hit with thundersticks, inflatable balloons that are struck together to create a cheering noise. In California, a Palin supporter told a CNN reporter, "You're terrible, and I hope you go out of business."
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