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The Note: McCain Down But Not Out
October 17, 2008 8:43 AM
ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Friday's Note:
Let’s hope Joe the Plumber doesn’t charge by the minute -- the 15th can be the roughest.
Maybe John McCain’s last great comeback isn’t possible. Maybe it’s only possible on the back of a plumber from Ohio (albeit one who could have used some vetting).
Maybe it’s only possible with a plumber plus an ACORN plus an apology plus an “SNL” appearance plus a whole bunch of nasty things still to be said about Barack Obama.
But as the race moves to a (bluer) map, the fact is that a McCain comeback is still possible, all the signs to the contrary notwithstanding. Outgunned on the air and the ground, in difficult (shrinking) terrain, there may yet be room for one final storyline that casts McCain like he remembers so fondly.
If he wins, he’ll be eking it out: “Top aides to Senator John McCain said Thursday that they were searching for a ‘narrow-victory scenario’ and would focus in the final weeks on a dwindling number of states, using mailings, telephone calls and television advertisements to try to tear away support from Senator Barack Obama,” Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg write in The New York Times.
Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.
“Mr. Obama’s advisers said they would use the remaining 19 days of the campaign to focus mainly on capturing states that President Bush won in 2004; he is going to Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia, over the next three days and spending two days in Florida next week,” they write. “In a sign of the differing fortunes of the candidates, advisers to Mr. Obama said he was escalating his effort in West Virginia, which Mr. Bush won by 13 points in 2004, with a surge in advertising spending and a campaign swing there in the coming days by Mr. Obama or his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.”
Karl Rove charts the strategy: “Mr. McCain is shaping a story line that draws on well-founded concerns about Mr. Obama's lack of record or experience,” Rove writes in his Wall Street Journal column. “Mr. McCain is also bowing to reality and devoting most of his time to the economy. His narrative is he's the conservative reformer who'll lead and work hard to get things done, while Mr. Obama is the tax-and-spend liberal who's unprepared to lead and unwilling to act.”
The itinerary: “[McCain’s] campaign understands the dire circumstances it faces and is narrowing his travels almost exclusively to Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Colorado and Nevada. If he carries those states, while losing only Iowa and New Mexico from the GOP's 2004 total, Mr. McCain will carry 274 Electoral College votes and the White House. It's threading the needle, but it's come to that.”
Defense is what’s left of his offense: “The latest polls show Obama ahead in Virginia and Florida. McCain and Obama are effectively tied in Missouri and North Carolina,” ABC’s Ron Claiborne reports. “This has forced McCain to play defense in these states with less than three weeks to go instead of being in blue states that his campaign has targeted, such as New Hampshire, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.”
“Absent his ability to pick off any state won by the Democrats four years ago, he must prevent Obama from winning any of half a dozen Republican states that now appear vulnerable,” Dan Balz and Shailagh Murray write in The Washington Post. “McCain's campaign and the RNC still point to Pennsylvania and, to a lesser extent, New Hampshire as potential pickups. But McCain has so many red states to defend that he may not have either the time or the money to convert Democratic turf.”
But is it too late for state-by-state hopes, given Obama’s financial edge? “He's too far in the hole,” said Mike Murphy, a former McCain adviser. “He has to move the whole country his way to get back in the game, and at that point the North Carolina-type problems will fade and he will be back in battle in places like Colorado, Ohio, New Hampshire and Nevada.”
Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.
ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.
October 17, 2008 in Ballotwatch, Biden, Joe, Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (112)
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Hang it up - you bum.
Posted by: Mike | Oct 17, 2008 8:56:27 AM
I think McCain still has a slim shot at this thing.
Obama isn't being well served by his party. Biden is polishing his golf game, Clinton is already calling the nominee President Obama, Murtha is insulting an entire region of a swing state, Lewis is bringing up awkward comparisons, Tom Moran last night on TV was declaring the race over.
I can see why Obama is the Democratic nominee. He seems to be the only one in the party with any sense.
Posted by: Paul | Oct 17, 2008 8:59:55 AM
But, um, he's going to red states who never liked "old john mccain".
Posted by: bubba | Oct 17, 2008 9:03:13 AM
Why is ABC and all the other news outlet, excepting FOX, not reporting on the ex-FBI agents outrage on the Obama-Ayers connection? The people should research this story. It is quite interesting.
Posted by: lp | Oct 17, 2008 9:04:51 AM
I hope McCain does not have one more story line left. I'm tired of his stories! I want policy, not narrative.
So ditch Joe the (unlicensed) Plumber please!!!!
Just put your idea up against Obama and let us decide.
Posted by: Greg | Oct 17, 2008 9:08:57 AM
Well, they just discovered actual voter FRAUD occurred here in my home state of New Mexico during the June primary election here.
Not registration fraud, actual voter fraud.
There were 28 fraudulent votes, mostly absentee, cast during the June primary in one state congressional district in Albuquerque.
Most of the fraudulent voters, you guessed it, were registered by ACORN.
Posted by: Lee | Oct 17, 2008 9:10:51 AM
Martin Nesbitt, the treasurer of Obama’s campaign, has tax liens. So do his companies.
You’d think that matters more than the tax liens of Joe the Plumber, wouldn’t you? But good luck finding a Big Media story about Nesbitt’s liens.
Posted by: Forget Joe, I got your Tax Liens right here, pal | Oct 17, 2008 9:17:01 AM
we should all leave Joe the non-plumber alone as pointed out on FOX (shepard Smith) he can't buy the business in this lifetime and really makes $40.thousand a year and would benefit from Obamas plan......move on
Posted by: votor | Oct 17, 2008 9:20:03 AM
If tax liens are such an indicator of character and trustworthiness, wouldn’t it have more significance for the treasurer of a presidential campaign than for a man who just asked a question of the candidate? If the national media has such an interest in investigating a plumber who made a couple of national appearances, why wouldn’t they have at least the same interest in the people running a major party presidential campaign? Of course not. The same people who instruct us that Barack Obama’s 20-year membership in Jeremiah Wright’s church while Wright called 9/11 “chickens coming home to roost” now interrogate Joe the Plumber on national TV about his brief flirtation with the Natural Law Party.
Because, you know, associations matter when choosing a plumber, but apparently not when choosing a President.
Posted by: Taxes for Thee, but not for Me | Oct 17, 2008 9:20:41 AM
Cynics Reporting:
Errr, Uhm, could you please explain why you haven't reported on the western PA report that Obama pals around with biracial unidentified objects that we heard flew directly in from the white hating planet Blackery. Hee Hee
You cynics are just praying to your OUIJI BOARDS with your biracial voodoo dolls lead by Palin the parrot's pastor, huh?
NOTE TO BRAIN: McChicken doesn't have a porkchop's chance in a piranha tank of even getting 200 electoral votes. Suffice to say, POTUS is not on his achievable goals list.
POTUS OBAMA - 18 DAYS, IT'S A LOCK!
Posted by: Nat Turner | Oct 17, 2008 9:21:20 AM
Voter fraud is despicable, regardless of who doe it. Did these votes sway the actual election of a candidate, however? Were they counted and did it affect the outcome of the election? And, please stop with Joe The Plumber? Now we have been reduced to voting for the POTUS based on some "less than forthright" guy on what his taxpayer position is. No one likes paying taxes, but we do it because it's the law, and that is how our government functions (not too efficiently though, I might add).
Posted by: geecee | Oct 17, 2008 9:21:45 AM
Yes, by all means release any and all information about Joe the Plumber, but nothing at all about the actual candidate and his campaign.
Posted by: Lee | Oct 17, 2008 9:22:58 AM
Of course the fraudulent votes were counted. This occurred during the June primary election. Election results were canvassed and verified months ago.
I don't imagine that 28 votes changed the outcome, but is that really the point?
Posted by: Lee | Oct 17, 2008 9:25:12 AM
White Supremecy's execution is scheduled for November 4th 2008.
WS is currently on its deathbed with immediate family members "Oppression", "Cynicism", "Racism" standing by the bed balling their little eyes out. Nephews and nieces denial and pessimism can stand to be in the room as they have had nervous breakdowns and are heavily medicated.
POTUS OBAMA - 18 Days Left for White Supremecy
Posted by: Nat Turner | Oct 17, 2008 9:27:22 AM
McCain is the one who exploited Joe the plumber from his comfortable rich seat at the debate, he was not being personally investigated before that by the media.
It may have been a photo op but at least Obama was knocking on average votors doors when he came upon Joe the plumber.
Posted by: votor | Oct 17, 2008 9:30:13 AM
Voter suppression, it's the Republican way!
Posted by: Uncle Sam | Oct 17, 2008 9:35:25 AM
Nat Turner,
White Supremecy you guys kill me!
Posted by: reddog0216 | Oct 17, 2008 9:36:45 AM
Voter suppression, it's the Republican way!
Posted by: Uncle Sam | Oct 17, 2008 9:35:25 AM
suppression of fake voters
Posted by: reddog0216 | Oct 17, 2008 9:37:41 AM
This appeared on NBC Investigates this morning:
"A company that ships oil into Iraq for use by American forces there "appears to have engaged in a reprehensible form of war profiteering," according to a letter by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Cal., Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The company, International Oil Trading Limited, is run by Florida-based businessman Harry Sargeant, a top fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain."
Now, is this more or less serious than "tax liens", which will get paid when someone attempts to sell their property.
Posted by: geecee | Oct 17, 2008 9:41:03 AM
Lee, Wow 28 in the whole state of NM there's breaking news? and I guess we are to take as fact that these acts were perpetrated by democrats, even though McCain himself spoke at a an ACORN conference?
Posted by: rick | Oct 17, 2008 9:41:06 AM
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