From a cartoon found on line-could not link to it-
“Sa-rah-gogue N: A leader with few qualifications who makes use of folksy phrases, popular prejudices, false claims and promises in order to gain power, you betcha”

Yes — I think that's an excellent suggestion. But for it to help him, it needs to be part of an overarching narrative.

Unfortunately though he gets no airtime, even when he says the single most sensible thing I've heard anyone suggest since this whole thing started:
“Current rules mandate that investors must begin to sell off their IRAs and 401Ks when they reach age 70 and one half,” McCain said. “To spare investors from being forced to sell their stocks at just the time when the market is hurting the most, those rules should be suspended.”

LOL!!! They're not putting much time down my way. Texas isn't much of a “battleground”.

I just wanted to record that for posterity, and remind you that it's always good advice. ;->

He also should figure out how to harness Palin's positives while controlling the negatives- the campaign needs to coordinate how they allow her to be herself but within limits so that she can continue motivating the base but without turning off the independents.

One thing that occurred to me is that McCain seems to study the feedback he gets at his townhalls, and then use that as info about what messages are resonating. Now, that's not a bad tactic at all, but I think the problem is that the rallies give him feedback about what the most conservative voters want to hear rather than what the independents are wanting to hear. Polimom, maybe you should start attending and yelling out comments at their rallies!

McCain has already done a bunch of things that were designed to shake things up. They all came to be seen as stunts. And stunts that didn't really work out that well.

Included in that is the selection of Palin herself.

Palin is sort of strangely popular with the Republicans of the base I know. They don't like McCain. Even though they're afraid of Obama, they would abandon McCain in a heartbeat if Palin left the ticket.

I agree with Polimom that Palin is representative of McCain's problems. But because of Palin, McCain has solidified the base, which he needed to do.

What he now needs to do is articulate some positive, coherent message. The more positive, I think, the less coherent it would have to be. But he would have to get Palin to do the same thing.

And it seems to me that if they lose, having had a positive message at her back would also help Palin in her own future ambitions. Palin is destroying her own prospects with the campaign she's running. It won't be possible for Palin to become the President of just the base in 2012, just as it isn't going to be possible for McCain this year.

In my opinion–for what that's worth–the last thing McCain needs is yet another gimmick.

The John McCain Political Rally Bingo Card

That's true — though one could argue that his opposition is saying that anyway.

Like I said: a longshot. But it really is the only scenario that I can envision that has any upside for him. The path he's on is terminal.

Look, I also think the choice of Palin ended up being a bad one. But McCain can't back out at this point. It'll look suspect, and accusations of bad judgment will fly all over.

If you think Obama is going to win by a comfortable percentage now, consider what happens if she withdrawals. Forget comfortable. More like landslide.

I thought about the angle that you mentioned, Polimom, that perhaps she could withdraw out of concerns that Troopergate is distracting from his message or something…but then too, it would produce nothing but backlash about how his judgement was so bad for having not vetted her to find out about this horrible scandal.

Come on, folks, get with the program!

At this point I think Obama will win but I'm not convinced of that at all.

I think if McCain were to pick Lieberman as his VP, then he would draw a lot of independents' support from Obama. But the gamble McCain is taking is with the GOP base. The only way McCain could win in that scenario is if he had the backing of Hannity, Limbaugh, etc…. These folks may hold their nose over the Lieberman pick just because they are so anti-Obama. Hannity, etc. would need to say that McCain's pick of Lieberman does show that McCain can reach across the aisle (to the GOP Lieberman is still a dem) and McCain is serious about bringing this country together… (not that I actually believe that line since Lieberman himself is a divisive figure, but that's what will need to be portrayed if McCain picks Lieberman and it is a good spin).

I still think the race is leaning Obama….

And actually, I was hasty with my reply about whether Palin could be dropped. I think that if she were to recuse herself (say… because of Troopergate), it could perhaps be pulled off.