The Ayers Have It

Rule #1: When you're down in the polls and running into a headwind (like this morning's Dow tumble), throw subtlety out the window. Thus, the McCain-Palin attacks on a "risky" and "dangerous" Obama who doesn't see "America like you and I see America." They don't specifically reference Jeremiah Wright, but they don't have to. The question now is if (when?) outside groups will take Palin's cue (via Bill Kristol in today's NYT) and do so for them.

-- More important, while there's little doubt Dems up and down the ticket got a boost from the stumbling economy and a dysfunctional Congress, it's unclear if it tipped white, cross-pressured voters firmly to Obama's side. The latest Diageo/Hotline poll shows that on the issue of who'd best handle the economy, McCain is actually leading Obama by 1 pt. - 43-42%. Last week's crisis turned the focus onto Pres. Bush - not a good thing for any GOP candidate. But it didn't seem to give Obama a meaningful advantage on voters' #1 issue.

-- McCain has more room to grow among white voters. Obama is basically where Kerry ended up in '04 among white voters, while McCain is dramatically under-performing Bush. Can Ayers and Rezko help McCain close the gap? Or in a year where voters say they want change, will this simply smack of same old, same old?