From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann
*** Has the worm turned? After the news of the crisis on Wall Street, McCain’s “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” stumble on Monday, the slip-ups yesterday by McCain’s two biggest economic surrogates (see below for more on that), and four days of sustained TV ad and email blasts by the Obama campaign and the DNC, the political worm seems to have turned a tad since the Palin bounce. Indeed, while we’re not crazy about focusing too much on those daily tracking polls, their needles have moved in Obama’s direction the past couple of days (and we bet that continues today). And guess what -- we’re not talking as much about Palin as we were last week, except for the latest developments in the Troopergate scandal in Alaska. The race has turned back into McCain vs. Obama, and it currently is sitting on turf (the economy) that should favor Democrats. In fact, even the McCain campaign tacitly acknowledges Palin's off the front pages with a new TV ad today that doesn't mention Palin at all -- not even a "McCain-Palin" Administration. It’s simply McCain. By the way, a car-bomb attack today on the US embassy in Yemen (which killed 16 people, including six security forces, six terrorists, and four civilians) reminds us that the focus of the presidential race -- as well as that political worm -- can turn at a moment’s notice.
*** McCain targeting Gordon Gekko: But even with the attack in Yemen, today’s focus will probably remain on the economy. Both candidates have new TV ads in which they speak to the camera about the current troubles on Wall Street. Here’s McCain’s, which his campaign says will be televised nationally: “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.”
*** Gone in 120 seconds: Meanwhile, Obama’s out with a two-minute TV ad on the economy -- a sort of a mini-address to show he's taking the current Wall Street crisis seriously. "Here’s what I believe we need to do,” he says in the ad. “Reform our tax system to give a $1,000 tax break to the middle class instead of showering more on oil companies and corporations that outsource our jobs. End the ‘anything goes’ culture on Wall Street with real regulation that protects your investments and pensions. Fast track a plan for energy ‘made-in-America’ that will free us from our dependence on mid-east oil in 10 years and put millions of Americans to work. Crack down on lobbyists… And yes, bring a responsible end to this war in Iraq so we stop spending billions each month rebuilding their country when we should be rebuilding ours. Doing these things won’t be easy. But we’re Americans. We’ve met tough challenges before. And we can again." This ad isn't just a contrast with McCain; it's actually a contrast with President Bush. In the last six months since the country's economic problems have been front-page news, Bush hasn't done a major address to the nation like he has when there has been international news. By the way, neither this Obama ad nor McCain’s emphasizes jobs. They both talk about them (or imply them), but they aren’t the lead.
*** When surrogates screw up: McCain’s top two economic surrogates had a tough day yesterday. First, Douglas Holtz-Eakin -- in a response to reporters’ questions about what McCain did at the Senate Commerce Committee to understand how markets work -- whipped out his BlackBerry. "He did this," he replied. “Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that's what he did." That produced a slew of McCain-invented-the-BlackBerry jokes. Next, Carly Fiorina answered “no” to a question in a radio interview whether Palin has the experience to run a corporation like Hewlett-Packard. In a later interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Fiorina said that none of the candidates was qualifed. "Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation; I don't think Barack Obama could run a major corporation; I don't think Joe Biden could run a major corporation.” The Obama camp immediately pounced. “If John McCain’s top economic advisor doesn’t think he can run a corporation, how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis?" Ouch.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/17/1409425.aspx
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