If you’re Republican John McCain, Tuesday is the kind of day your campaign needs. You’re slipping farther behind your opponent, Democrat Barack Obama, in critical swing states like Pennsylvania and (GASP!) traditionally-Republican Virginia; a majority of voters want a new manager of the economy in the White House rather than someone from the current president’s party; and you’ve got a few things to say about Obama’s past.
In short, you need a national audience, something more than a 10,000-person rally in Ohio or New Mexico. You need a national debate.
Tonight’s townhall showdown at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., gives McCain one more chance to turn this thing around. The question is, how do you do it? And how don’t you do it?
Here’s what to watch for tonight:
Obama & Friends
The McCain campaign since the weekend has been trying to tie Obama to a Vietnam-era radical whose group was responsible for some bombings in Washington, D.C. The connection, though, is tenuous at best, according to several media reports, and Obama has denounced the group’s activities previously.
Nonetheless, I don’t doubt part of timing of the McCain campaign’s attacks coincides with the debate tonight when audience members and viewers on the Internet are allowed to ask questions. Most of the questions will be about the nation’s economy and finances, but maybe one person will stand up and ask about Obama’s supposed connection to this radical, a moment that will give this line of attack more of a national audience than a political rally in Florida.
Don’t doubt for a moment Obama’s prepared for it. He faced it once before, during the ABC News debate in Philadelphia last April when Hillary Clinton dropped the reference on him.
Eye-to-Eye
Although the candidates are not permitted to question one another directly, last debate McCain tried to bait Obama into responding to him directly. Obama avoided it, and polls showed Obama made the right decision. Will McCain again bait Obama or try speaking to the audience directly the entire night? Or will he avoid confrontation?
Healthy Health Care
Obama benefitted from three weeks of constant news about the tumbling economy as voters began shifting in his direction, believing he’s better able to handle the nation’s finance and markets than McCain. Now that the federal bailout plan has been passed, Obama needed to keep the focus on the economy, just in a different way. During recent days, Obama’s been trying to keep the discussion on McCain’s health care plan, which would tax employer-provided health insurance as income, provide a tax credit for individuals and families to buy insurance on the private market (there are questions about if the credit is enough) and would cut about $1.3 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid.
Socialism, underdog, maverick
Start keeping a tally on how many times you hear those words.
Turn of the debate on your TV and open up your computer. Log on to Bird’s-Eye View for a running blog of the event. Send in your questions and comments and we’ll share them with others. See you later tonight.
