A website dedicated to the man so uniquely unqualified to be President. This blog by by radio talk host Todd Feinburg has been replaced by RealClearThinker.com.
Yesterday's Gallup poll showed McCain picking up some ground, cutting Barack's lead from 8% to 4%. But today's Rasmussen ticks up a point for Barack.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama attracting 51% of the vote while John McCain earns 44%. This seven-point advantage is the largest yet enjoyed by Obama during Election 2008 and is consistent with the stable lead he has enjoyed over the past week. For each of the past seven days, Obama has been at 50% or 51% and McCain has been at 44% or 45%.
The challenge for McCain remains the strong focus on the bad economy. Will the conversation shift, or can McCain figure out how to get some traction on the Wall Street fiasco? He missed an opportunity to reinforce his brand when he voted for the bailout last night without demanding that the pork be removed. But I suspect the campaign is gunshy after last week's campaign suspension failed to impress.
Obama leads 63% to 32% among voters who name the economy as the top voting issue. McCain lead 74% to 24% among those who say that national security is the highest priority. Fifty percent (50%) of voters say the economy is most important while just 19% see national security that way.
Has McCain's corporate tax break been added to the revised bailout bill that the senate will vote on tonight?
In a surprise move to resurrect President Bush's $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan, Senate leaders slated a vote on the measure for Wednesday - but added a tax cut plan already rejected by the House. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky unveiled the plan Tuesday.
The move to add a tax legislation - including a set of popular business tax breaks - risked a backlash from House Democrats insisting they be paid for with tax increases elsewhere.
Barack has attacked McCain for favoring tax breaks for business.
The Senate plan would also raise federal deposit insurance limits to $250,000 from $100,000, as called for by the two presidential nominees only hours earlier.
Both candidates support the insurance hike.
But by also adding legislation to prevent more than 20 million middle-class taxpayers from feeling the bite of the alternative minimum tax, the step could build momentum for the Wall Street bailout from House Republicans. The presidential candidates Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., intend to fly to Washington for the votes, as does Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the Democratic vice presidential candidate.
Aren't they afraid of messing things up if they return to Washington? Shouldn't they be out on the campaign trail where they belong?
The surprise move capped a day in which supporters of the imperiled multibillion-dollar economic rescue fought to bring it back to life, courting reluctant lawmakers with a variety of other sweeteners including the plan to reassure Americans their bank deposits are safe.
It's good of Bill to choose now to be above the fray.
Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday, Clinton told ABC News' Chris Cuomo that McCain's push to postpone the debate would only be a good political move if both candidates agreed. McCain announced on Wednesday that he would "suspend" his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill
"We know he didn't do it because he's afraid because Sen. McCain wanted more debates," Clinton said, adding that he was "encouraged" by the joint statement from McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.
"You can put it off a few days the problem is it's hard to reschedule those things," Clinton said, "I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted -- I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don't think we ought to overly parse that."
If the debate moves forward as planned for Friday night, Clinton says "they should be able to talk about this some of the debate because it is a security issue."
And, by the way, you don't have to tell Bill why voters have gone crazy for Palin!
Bill Clinton praised Sarah Palin Wednesday, saying he found the Alaska governor an “appealing person” and her and her family “gutsy, spirited and real.”
“I think that she and her husband and their kids come across gutsy, spirited and real,” he said in an interview to be broadcast Wednesday night. “I have significant disagreements with her about any number of social and economic issues but I find her an appealing person and I think that it’s best to say that Senator McCain looks like he knew what he was doing. He picked somebody who gave him a lot of energy, a lot of support.”
Injecting a jolt of new drama into the U.S. presidential race, Republican John McCain on Wednesday said he was temporarily suspending his campaign in a bid to help break a deadlock on Capitol Hill over the White House's proposed $700-billion bailout of Wall Street.
His decision Wednesday to do something bold and to link his campaign more strongly to the bailout legislation preceded a speech by President Bush last night, created a VP style media drama over what will happen to the debate Friday night, and forced Barack to dance along to his lead.
The move came on a dramatic day that ended with President George W. Bush making a rare prime-time televised address, warning that the "serious financial crisis" is putting the "entire economy . . . in danger."
Mr. Bush warned that if action was not taken soon, "America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold."
McCain is now front and center on the attempts in congress to hammer out emergency legislation. And he and Barack got to put out their joint statement.
With debate in Congress over the proposed rescue package at an impasse, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said late Wednesday he would join Mr. McCain for an emergency meeting with Bush and leaders of Congress Thursday at the White House.
"This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country," Messrs. Obama and McCain said in a joint statement. "We cannot risk an economic catastrophe. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country."
The real potential exists for McCain to look, once again, like the guy capable of going beyond looking presidential, and actually acting presidential in a time of crisis.
But while both candidates were putting their campaigns on hold, Mr. Obama rejected Mr. McCain's request for a scheduled presidential debate on Friday to be postponed while they worked jointly on the financial crisis.
Mr. Obama, who has been campaigning in Florida, said he agreed to return to Washington after Bush phoned with an invitation for the impromptu White House summit.
If this thing drags on another 24 hours, Barack could end up in a pickle over what to do about tomorrow night, with his campaign stuck in high profile reaction mode. But if it resolves quickly, McCain may not have been in Washington long enough to create a sense of linkage between his actions and the final legislation.
Democrats are doing their best to make McCain seem irrelevant.
Moments after Bush spoke on Wednesday, powerful Democrat Rep. Barney Frank said a bailout bill would pass.
"Earlier today, it became clear to me we would get the votes to pass this bill," Frank, who is chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, told CNBC.
So here's the deal. This afternoon, shortly before 3pm et, McCain announces that he's suspending his campaign to return to Washington and attend to the bailout measure, which is being revised after polls indicate Americans aren't much interested in saving the tycoons on Wall Street.
Like crazed kids with credit cards, the Stock Monsters went on a spending spree, sure that no matter what happened, mom and dad would always be there to bail them out. "We're not going to pay," say the parents.
In mortal fear of an electorate that notices and cares about anything going on in Washington, Senators from both parties are slobering over themselves in an effort to appear more eager to punish Wall Street CEO's and pretend to want to give money to individuals in pain rather than to save the system.
The Democrats tried to make finding a resolution McCain's problem, with Majority Leader Harry Reid taunting McCain last night saying we need to know where the senator stands.
Meanwhile, Barack says he gets a phone call from Senator Tom Coburn of Kentucky, an arch conservative Republican who Barack has portrayed as one of his senate friends despite Coburn's alleged neanderthal politics. They've cosponsored legislation. Barack says Coburn suggested that Obama and McCain make a joint statement on the bailout plan.
McCain gets a call and Barack makes the suggestion. While mulling the idea over, McCain decides he should go much further, and suspend his campaign and go to Washington to be part of the process. He calls Barack back, and according to Barack, tells him this is what he thinks they should do.
Barack indicates that he thinks he has time to consider the idea, but the next thing he knows, McCain is on TV announcing his plans.
Meanwhile, Barack holds a press conference to respond to McCain, and says he's not going to accept McCain's suggestion that he also suspend campaigning and postpone the debate. He says we need the debate now more than ever, so the American people get to hear what the two major party nominees have to say about the crisis.
Harry Reid issues a statement - we don't need presidential politics injected into Washington - and the battle lines are drawn. McCain portrays himself as bold in the face of crisis, Barack portrays himself as getting backhanded by McCain, but poised and confident under stress.
Even with the financial world melting down, the boys play their games.
This has been a bad week for John McCain. They should have been ready to deal with a news cycle that played to Barack's advantage, but were apparently thrown of kilter by McCain's statement Monday morning that the fundamentals of the economy were still strong. With this ad, they seem to have settled into a groove. Finally.
THE SCRIPT Voice of Mr. McCain: “You, the American workers, are the best in the world. But your economic security has been put at risk by the greed of Wall Street. That’s unacceptable. My opponent’s only solutions are talk and taxes. I’ll reform Wall Street and fix Washington. I’ve taken on tougher guys than this before.” Announcer’s voice: “Change is coming. John McCain.”
The Wall Street Debacle has pushed the conversation back to Barack's storyline, away from Sarah and back to the malaise, and he seized the opportunity.
For months, McCain's managers have understood that his biggest challenge is that eight out of 10 Americans think the country is moving in the wrong direction. There are relatively few things McCain can do to overcome the voters' natural inclination to punish the party in power.
One is to sow doubts about Obama and his prospective actions, and McCain has been assiduous in doing that. He and his cohorts have questioned Obama's experience, criticized his tax policies and challenged his approach to energy issues.
Another is to create a narrative that diverts attention from the voters' fundamental dissatisfaction. That was the purpose of McCain's reform initiative -- a narrative rooted in his own rebel personality and anti-establishment history, reinforced by the choice of Palin as his running mate. That story line was launched well at the Republican National Convention, and it tightened the race.
McCain must demonstrate that even in the context of the down economy, it is he who represents change.
There may be other external events that jolt the presidential race -- and the debates are still to come. But for now, Wall Street and its woes are causing big problems for John McCain.
