Blogs For Victory

With the so-called economic crisis dominating headlines, momentum has clearly turned in favor of Barack Obama.

Some conservatives are concerned about the outcome of the race. There is certainly reason to be concerned, but there’s no reason to throw in the towel.

Let’s consider the following. Despite the recent economic news, which hurts McCain being a member of the incumbent party, the race, according to the latest Gallup Daily Tracking Poll, still shows a close race with Obama at 48% and McCain at 44%. So, despite all the factors that should put Obama at least 12 points ahead, he is under 50% nationally.

The current state of the race is somewhat similar to how it was around the time of the Democrats’ convention. The main difference is that Obama is getting a bump from poor economic news, the same way he got a bump from a week of positive coverage from his convention. What this tells me is that the dynamic of the race can easily shift again in McCain’s favor, and there’s still time to do it.

It was only a few weeks ago that Democrats were worried that Obama was blowing the election. Things have changed quite dramatically since then… Some may have been because of Obama’s offensive strategy, but, I still believe much of the shift has less to do with Obama and more to do with voter perception resulting from economic news.

There is still time left for McCain to shift the momentum back in his favor. But, only he can make it happen. I don’t have the answer on how he turns it around, but I have a few suggestions.

1. I don’t think McCain has effectively linked Obama and Biden to the Democratic Majority which has brought congressional approval down to historic lows in the single digits. He needs to make the case to the American people that Obama and Biden have been a part of the problem, and to put them in the White House with what will likely remain Democrat majorities in both Houses of Congress would be a continuation of the same problems that have arised in the past two years since they took over.
2. McCain needs to challenge Obama on his alleged bipartisanship and his ability to go after corrupt members of his own party. The news from earlier today about Nancy Pelosi using her political action committee to enrich her own family is indicative of the corruption that is still rampant in the Democratic Party that goes unpunished by their fellow party members. Also, McCain should have challenged Obama to call on Rangel to step down from his chairmanship after all the barrage of stories of corrupt activities he’s been involved in had surfaced. He needs to demonstrate that while he’s been a maverick, Obama has not.
3. Get Romney to Michigan. We need that state to secure victory and Romney’s connections to the state, coupled with his primary victory there makes him the most valuable surrogate he has to send there.
4. McCain needs to talk about the economy, but move beyond the bailout. Most people may have an opinion about the bailout, but most also don’t understand the complexities of the situation. When the bailout is over and done with, the race will likely tighten up even more. So, McCain needs to talk about the economy in a way most people will understand and relate to.
5. For Florida, bring in Rudy Giuliani and Joe Lieberman. Also, use Joe Lieberman to not only reach out to Independents, Reagan Democrats and Hillary Democrats, but also Jewish voters.
6. William Ayers. Exploit it. Tony Rezko. Exploit it.

Those are just a few ideas. We’ll see how the next couple weeks pan out… I have no doubt the race will be a virtual tie in national polls and in electoral map projections again soon… the question is how things will go on the homestretch.