Straight Talk Express has an accident

With Joe Lieberman on board. Sure you picked the right bus, Joe? Read the rest of this post...

LA Times pans McCain's energy plan

Los Angeles Times editorial:

McCain's energy plan misleads the public and ignores the risks of nuclear energy.... McCain, whose plan to boost nuclear power is an insult to voters' intelligence.... Before gas prices started soaring and McCain emerged as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, his ideas on energy sounded very much like Obama's, focusing on renewable power, carbon controls and efficiency. Campaign consultants doubtless deemed that too crunchy-granola for the GOP base, so he has taken to tossing it red meat by talking up nuclear power and increased offshore oil drilling. But misleading the public about nuclear energy will not serve the country, or his campaign, well.

Read the rest of this post...

Sudanese immigrant will carry American flag at Opening Ceremony at Olympics

Okay, despite the best efforts of NBC, I'm trying not to get too caught up in the hype surrounding the Olympics. But, there is so much symbolism in the choice of the U.S. flag bearer:

Sudanese refugee Lopez Lomong was chosen by his U.S. Olympic teammates Wednesday to be the American delegation's flag-bearer at Friday's Opening Ceremonies, a move that will cast an additional spotlight on the controversy over humanitarian abuses in Sudan's embattled Darfur region as the Beijing Games begin.

The announcement of the vote by U.S. Olympic team captains came just hours after the Chinese government rescinded the visa of 2006 Olympic speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek, the co-founder of Team Darfur, a group of athletes that aims to raise awareness about the conflict in Sudan and has been pressing China to do more to help end the fighting.

Lomong is an active member of the organization. "This is the most exciting day ever in my life," Lomong, 23, said in a statement. "It's a great honor for me that my teammates chose to vote for me. I'm here as an ambassador of my country, and I will do everything I can to represent my country well."

Cheek, who carried the U.S. flag at the Closing Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, said he was "thrilled" by Lomong's selection. "I was more thrilled by it than I imagined I would have been," Cheek said by telephone. "It just seems incredibly relevant. . . . Every time I think I can't be prouder of U.S. Olympians, those guys find a way to outdo themselves."

It is very powerful. And, not only Darfur. This is a great story about refugees and immigrants who come to the United States. What do the immigrant bashers have to say? Read the rest of this post...

The "evidence" against Anthrax Guy

Just reading AP's summation of the "evidence" the government has against now-deceased Anthrax Guy, and you get the distinct sense that the government dusted off the old evidence, whited out the word "Iraq" and instead wrote in "Anthrax Guy." It's pretty hilarious.

1. "some colleagues say it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for Ivins to do the conversion unnoticed. The court documents say Ivins was unable to provide 'an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours' around the time of the attacks."

I.e., He worked late.
____________________

2. "Prosecutors say they ruled out everyone else as suspects but did not explain how."

Compelling.
____________________

3. "Q: What motive would Ivins have had to unleash an attack?

A: It's not clear..."
____________________

4. "Q: Did Ivins travel to Princeton, N.J., where the anthrax letters are believed to have been mailed?

A: The Justice Department said he could have driven to Princeton during that period, although there is no direct evidence of his presence there."

Uh huh - we all COULD have driven to Princeton.
____________________

5. This one is perhaps my favorite:

Q: Why target media organizations and politicians?

A: Ivins was angry when an investigative reporter sought information from his notebooks on the vaccine additive. He said in an e-mail, "We've got better things to do than shine his shoes and pee on command." He also said he was anti-abortion, and the Catholic anti-abortion movement has criticized Catholic lawmakers who voted for abortion rights. The documents pointed out that two prominent lawmakers in this category were former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., both recipients of the 2001 anthrax mailings.

Excuse me? He was pro-life so that pretty much guaranteed that he was a mass murderer? Oh I can't wait for the fall out from this assumption.
____________________

6. "Q: Has the FBI matched handwriting samples from the letters?

A: There was no such evidence in the documents."

Yeah, no such evidence.

NOTE FROM ROB: Talk of the Nation on NPR did a segment on this today and spoke with Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), and to say the least, he wasn't impressed with the investigation. The post box used in the mailings and the contaminated mail sorting facility are in his congressional district. You can listen here. Read the rest of this post...

If Paris Hilton and John Mccain IM'd

One of the funniest things I've read in a while. From 236.com, click over there and read it - it's just great. Read the rest of this post...

Condi Rice: "[T]he United States will be fine" under a President Obama

Honey, I shrunk the attack ads. Read the rest of this post...

McCain's lobbyists -- there are lots of them and they're a shady bunch

Meet McCain's lobbyists.

Has anyone seen Vicky Iseman lately? Read the rest of this post...

Exclusive: McCain Economic Strategy Memo's Margin Notes

According to the Politico's Jonathan Martin:

John McCain's campaign is considering a series of tactics intended to focus attention on the Republican's effort to address the economy, including a jobs-oriented tour of targeted states, an economic summit and family roundtable events "heavily tilted towards women," according to an internal memo.

In a document titled "Economic Communications Plan" sent Sunday to top campaign aides and economic advisers and obtained by Politico, McCain communications adviser Taylor Griffin writes that their polling reveals "Americans are still not tuned into what the candidates might do to fix the economy."

To address that, Griffin writes, McCain needs to convey three ideas:

1. McCain understands the economic problems of ordinary Americans. Barack Obama does not.
2. McCain understands that the situation is urgent.
3. McCain’s “Jobs for America” plan is superior.

Thankfully Americablog has discovered the original version of this policy memo with margin notes about sticky areas to avoid discussing:

DRAFT MEMO ON MCCAIN AND ECONOMIC POLICY PUSH

1. McCain understands the economic problems of ordinary Americans. Barack Obama does not.

Note: Don’t Mention That Senator McCain Extreme Wealth Makes It Hard to Relate To The Concerns of Everyday Americans. Do not discuss taste in clothing or HOUSES!!!

John & Cindy McCain Own At Least Ten Houses In Arizona, California, and Virginia Worth an Estimated $13,823,269. [San Diego County Property Records; Maricopa County Property Records; Yavapai County Property Records; Arlington County Property Records; GQ, 3/18/08; McCain 2008 Senate Financial Disclosure Report]

McCain Was The Eighth Wealthiest Senator In 2006 Based On His 2006 PFD. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, John McCain was the eighth wealthiest Senator in 2006, based on his 2006 personal financial disclosure. McCain’s minimum net worth was listed at $ 27,817,187 and his maximum net worth was listed at $45,045,011. [Center For Responsive Politics via Opensecrets.org, accessed 4/2/08]

McCain Was Seen Wearing $520 Ferragamo Loafers. The Huffington Post reported that John McCain wore a pair of $520 leather Ferragamo loafers to several campaign events, from a meeting with the Dalai Lama to a stopover at a Pennsylvania supermarket. [HuffingtonPost.com, accessed 7/30/08]

2. McCain understands that the situation is urgent.

Note: Please Avoid Mentioning McCain’s Congressional Action on Key Economic Policies. Remember that Senator McCain Was “Focused On Other Stuff” And “Too Busy” To Cast The Deciding Vote On The Stimulus Bill To Extend Unemployment Benefits, Even Though He Was In Washington, DC.

McCain Skipped Vote on Stronger Stimulus Package. On February 6, 2008, McCain skipped a vote that would have bolstered the economic stimulus package to offer additional help for American families and businesses. [CQ Today, 2/6/08]

• McCain Would have been Deciding Vote. Senate Democrats had 59 votes to end debate and bring the stimulus package to a vote – including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – meaning McCain would have cast the deciding vote. “The tally was 58-41 to end debate on the Senate measure” because Majority Leader Harry Reid “switched his vote to ‘no’ at the last moment” so he can “bring the measure up for a revote.” [Associated Press, 2/7/08]

• Mccain Was In Washington For Vote. The Associated Press reported, McCain’s “decision to miss the vote appeared to come at the last minute, after his plane had landed at Dulles International Airport outside Washington just before the proceedings opened on the Senate floor.” [Associated Press, 2/6/08]

• McCain “Too Busy” to Show Up and Vote, “Focused on Other Stuff.” Asked on his plane to Washington about the vote, McCain said, “I haven’t had a chance to talk about it at all, have not had the opportunity to, even,” McCain said. “We’ve just been too busy, focused on other stuff. I don’t know if I’m doing that. We’ve got a couple of meetings scheduled.” [Associated Press, 2/6/08]

McCain Said It Is Necessary To Work A Second Job Or Skip Vacation. During his speech on the mortgage crisis, McCain said, “Of those 80 million homeowners, only 55 million have a mortgage at all, and 51 million are doing what is necessary – working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets – to make their payments on time. That leaves us with a puzzling situation: how could 4 million mortgages cause this much trouble for us all?” [McCain Remarks On The Housing Crisis, 3/25/08]

McCain Blamed Homeowners As “Irresponsible” And Opposed Federal Help During remarks on the housing crisis, John McCain said, “I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” [McCain Remarks On The Housing Crisis, 3/25/08]

3. McCain's "Jobs for America" plan is superior.

Note: Under NO Circumstances Should Senator McCain Repeat His “So-Called” Straight Talk That He Knows American Jobs Lost To Trade Deals That Help Corporate America Are “Not Coming Back” !!!

McCain: “We In America Have Experienced A Dramatic Loss Of Manufacturing Jobs… Those Jobs Are Not Coming Back.” During a town hall meeting in Inez, Kentucky, John McCain said, “We in America have experienced a dramatic loss of manufacturing jobs. Not only here but particularly across areas of America that are our traditional manufacturing base. I have to tell you and I have to tell you this very honestly that many of those jobs are not coming back to America.” [McCain Town Hall in Inez, Kentucky, 4/23/08]

McCain Justified Job Losses By Saying “It Was Never A Lot Of People’s Ambition To Have Their Children Work In A Textile Mill.” During a roundtable in Santa Ana, California, John McCain said, “I believe that NAFTA has been a great thing for America...I went to South Carolina and I told the people of South Carolina that the old textile mill jobs weren’t coming back and they aren’t coming back. And frankly it was never a lot of people’s ambition to have their children work in a textile mill.” [Roundtable in Santa Ana, California, 3/25/08; emphasis added]

McCain: “Let The American Businesses Have Their Way.” During a speech in Tampa, Florida, John McCain said, “So I went to New Hampshire and I told them the truth, and we had over a hundred town hall meetings. And we went to Michigan, and we told them the truth, they didn’t like it much. And we went to South Carolina and we told them the truth, that maybe the old textile mills weren’t coming back... Let the American businesses have their way and get the government out of their way.” [McCain Speech in Tampa, Florida, 1/28/08]

Read the rest of this post...

Susan Collins likes message of negative ads linking unions to mafia

Anti-union ads, featuring a character from the Sopranos acting like a mafia tough guy, are running in Maine against Tom Allen. Not kidding:

In a new ad, a mob boss from the Sopranos makes a guest appearance with cardboard cutouts of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) and U.S. Rep. Tom Allen (D-Portland), who is challenging Collins.

The ad is part of a campaign opposing candidates who support the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation intended to make it easier for workers to organize by eliminating the requirement of the private ballot.

Pretty low to compare unions, which represent working men and women, to the mafia, but that's clearly the point of the ad.

So, which United States Senator from Maine agrees with the message of that ad? Susan Collins. Collins Watch has the details. Just pretty fricking low. Susan Collins is no moderate -- and no friend of working men and women.

Support Tom Allen here.

UPDATE: Just found out the AFL-CIO is fighting back for Tom Allen and against the union bashing. Good. Workers deserve way better than the crap Susan Collins and her right-wing cronies are throwing out. Read the rest of this post...

McCain getting "testy" over Social Security tax increase flip-flop

Bloomberg:

Getting Testy

The tax-benefit dilemma has not only thrown McCain into rhetorical contortions, it's also caused him to get testy when pressed to explain.

During a campaign bus ride last week in Missouri, a reporter said his July 27 comment presumably meant McCain wasn't ruling out raising taxes.

``That's presuming wrong,'' McCain said in cutting him off, according to the Washington Post.

Still, he has a history of being open to new Social Security taxes.

In a ``Meet the Press'' interview in 2005, McCain unequivocally endorsed the idea of levying such taxes on high- income earners, saying he could support that ``as part of a compromise.''

There are a number of problems here for McCain. First, the story is far from over - the media keeps revisiting McCain's flip flop partly because McCain himself hasn't put the controversy to rest - would he or would he not consider raising taxes to fix Social Security? Second, there's the issue of McCain's temper. McCain has a notoriously bad temper, leading some GOP senators to suggest that he'd be a bad president. Every time McCain loses his temper, and every time a reporter notes it, that only helps Obama. Read the rest of this post...

US reportedly close to deal on withdrawing combat troops from Iraq by October 2010

Obama proposed 16 months.

This deal is 21 months.

Only five months difference.

John McCain just got his legs cut off by George Bush. Read the rest of this post...

John McCain's latest campaign finance scandals grows. We'll ask again: Where's he really getting his money?

Yesterday, I wrote a post about some seemingly shady dealings surrounding one of John McCain's top fundraisers. That article seemed to lead to more questions about the bundler, Greg Sargeant, who was a frat brother of Florida Governor/V.P. contender, Charlie Crist. And, it has.

The New York Times followed up with an article about Mr. Sargeant's partner who was apparently the one who collected the money from a varied group of contacts. Also, another piece from the Washington Post, which nails one of the more interesting angles to this growing scandal:

A new question has surfaced this morning surrounding the bundling activity of Harry Sargeant, the Florida Republican who has raised more than $500,000 for the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain -- was it legal for his foreign co-worker to solicit political contributions? (emphasis mine)

The Post first reported on Sargeant's efforts on behalf of McCain and other political candidates earlier this week. McCain's campaign has credited Sargeant for collecting dozens of $2,300 and $4,600 checks, many of them from ordinary families in California. The manager of several Taco Bell restaurants, an auto mechanic, and the one-time owners of a liquor store all wrote big checks, even though many were not registered to vote.

Sargeant told The New York Times this morning that he at times left the task of collecting the checks to a longtime business partner, Mustafa Abu Naba'a. The problem with that is that Abu Naba'a is not an American citizen. According to court records, Abu Naba'a is a dual citizen of Jordan and the Dominican Republic.

John McCain has established himself as a campaign finance reformer. The traditional media types swallow that hook, line and sinker, even if it isn't based in fact. You all know we think McCain is actually more of a campaign finance criminal. This latest scandal seems to have legs. There are more questions every few hours -- and there are no real answers, yet.

Given McCain's self-image as a reformer, one would think McCain would be hyper-sensitive to campaign finance controversies. But, he's not. McCain is just desperate for dough. Read the rest of this post...

McCain has stopped holding news conferences

It sounds like the campaign is afraid that McCain can no longer hold his own in a real press conference. And that's very strange. As the article notes, much of McCain's "maverick status" is due to the unparalleled access he gave the press. It's cute for McCain's campaign to claim that now that McCain has entered the big leagues he just can't give the press that much access, but that doesn't ring true at all. McCain was in the big leagues when he was fighting for the 2000 nomination too. He didn't virtually eliminate his press conferences. But now, in numerous stories, we're reading how McCain has become nonexistent in the back of the bus where the press hang out. That suggests that John McCain of 2008 is not John McCain of 2000. Whether it's age, infirmity, or just orneriness, something has changed in John McCain, and the maverick has left the building:

The Arizona senator used to wear out reporters with his wide-ranging question-and-answer sessions, shifting from campaign strategy to international affairs to baseball, and back again. When a nervous press aide, Brooke Buchanan, would call time, McCain invariably responded, "Let me do one more."

There's been none of that freewheeling back and forth this week. Instead, for three straight days, McCain has approached a microphone, spoken for five minutes or less and then walked away without taking a single question.

Ducking questions would be nothing new for many politicians. But it's very much at odds with McCain's reputation and the unconventional image he's touting in a new campaign ad that boasts, "He's the original maverick."

McCain owes much of his maverick reputation to the virtually unlimited access he gave reporters during his first presidential campaign eight years ago. It's a style he reverted to last summer, after his more formal campaign nearly collapsed under its own weight.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush economy: Unemployment claims highest in six years

The number of people claiming unemployment rose again -- despite expectations that there would be a drop. The Bush economy continues to deliver bad news:

The number of newly laid off people signing up for jobless benefits last week climbed to its highest point in more than six years as companies cut back given the faltering economy.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000 for the week ending Aug. 2. The increase left claims at their highest level since late March 2002.

A program to locate people eligible for jobless benefits played a role in the increase, a Labor Department analyst said. However, the analyst couldn't say how much of a role.

The latest snapshot of layoff filings was worse than analysts expected. They were forecasting new claims to drop to around 430,000.

And, John McCain wants to give you another term of the Bush economy. Read the rest of this post...

McCain campaign director made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling out Ohio jobs

Dayton Daily News

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged Republican presidential candidate John McCain to press DHL and its German owner, Deutsche Post, to preserve jobs that could be lost if DHL hires United Parcel Service for its U.S. cargo airlift work.

McCain, the Arizona senator, scheduled a campaign stop in Wilmington today, Aug. 7, to meet privately with community activists trying to save at least 8,000 jobs at DHL's Wilmington air freight hub. McCain was also to visit Lima.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported on Wednesday that Washington lobbyist Rick Davis, now McCain's top campaign adviser, made hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees lobbying Congress to allow the 2003 deal in which Deutsche Post bought Airborne Express to form DHL's U.S. business. The Washington Post had a similar report in June.

Read the rest of this post...

Wash Post: "Obama Hits Back, Too Softly For Some"

Interesting article in today's Washington Post. It encapsulates the angst many Democrats are starting to feel about the election, McCain's increasingly negative attacks, and the Obama campaign's responses to those attacks. Democrats we talk to are worried. They're not just the chattering class on TV. It's Democrats across the board. They're worried because they want Obama to win, but more generally, they want our party to win. This election is about far more than Barack Obama. It's about Democrats taking back the White House, taking back our country. All Democrats share ownership of that goal.

Here are a few of the key points in the article, and my thoughts:

1. "We are not going to base our campaign on the concerns of so-called campaign strategists on cable TV," spokesman Bill Burton said.

In fact, lots of Democrats are expressing concern, including senior Hill staff, senior consultants, senior activists, and more.

2. "The price [McCain] paid for his party's nomination has been to reverse himself on position after position," Obama told a crowd of more than 1,000 at a high school gym in Elkhart. "That doesn't meet my definition of a maverick. You can't be a maverick when politically it's important for you but not a maverick when it doesn't work for you."

This is great, seriously. Hit McCain on his strength, his "maverick" status. Guaranteed to tick him off.

3. [Y]ou have to counterattack. You don't want to look like a whiner. You want to look tough."

This is a point I've raised several times. I think John Kerry and Al Gore paid a high price for being intellectual pretty-boys who didn't show enough of a tough-guy side (interestingly, I think Wesley Clark has the same PR problem - way too nice of a guy on TV, and never shows his inner general). The public knows Obama is smart and good looking, now they need to know that he can be an asshole too.

4. [M]ost of the independent groups that would have taken the lead in such an independent campaign have been sidelined by Obama's insistence that Democratic donors channel their money to him, rather than outside groups.... But the surrogate groups remain dormant, Brazile said, because of Obama's decision to cut them out.

True.

5. So far, said Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's executive director, the best response to McCain's celebrity attack has come from Paris Hilton herself, who released her own ad Tuesday calling McCain "the oldest celebrity in the world, like super old."

Joe has complained about this, as have others.

6. Nearly half of respondents -- including 51 percent of independents -- said they have been hearing too much about Obama lately, and 22 percent said all that news has made them feel less favorable toward him.

Well that's just dumb. Half say they've been hearing too much about Obama. What percentage of the population votes Republican in presidential elections of late? Half. Regardless, how many people said that all this news about Obama is actually making them like him less? A whopping 22%. That means that for 78%, the non-stop Obama news is either having a positive effect or no effect at all. So why is this a problem that only 22% of people are being turned off?

7. Because Obama opted out of public financing and the spending limits that come with it, he will be free to swamp McCain with television spots in the fall. If he needs to become more negative at that point, he can -- knowing that McCain would be hard pressed to reply. .

With only 3 months to go to election day, I would disagree with this. Once (if) McCain successfully paints Obama as [insert smear here], it's going to be very difficult to crawl out of that hole with only weeks to go.

8. Obama spokesman Burton said the campaign sees no reason to shift strategy. "This is a classic Washington story, anonymous quotes from armchair quarterbacks with no sense of our strategy, data or plan," he said.

Actually, from friends who have worked on elections for years, I hear that the rumblings of Democratic discontent we're hearing are not normal at all. As for Democrats on the Hill, in the private sector (consulting and media), and in the activist class (online and off) having no sense of Obama's strategy, data or plan, isn't that the problem? If Obama's political allies were truly integrated into a coordinated and comprehensive campaign strategy, they'd know this stuff and wouldn't be worried. Read the rest of this post...

A deadly milestone is surpasssed in a war that was almost forgotten

The death toll for U.S. troops in Afghanistan has surpassed 500. This war was largely forgotten by the Bush/Cheney regime as they rushed to invade Iraq. But, if my memory serves me, it was Afghanistan that housed and supported the terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. George Bush will leave office without finishing the job, but many Americans made the ultimate sacrifice trying to do the job. The New York Times has the report and the faces of those who died serving in Afghanistan:

Not long after Staff Sgt. Matthew D. Blaskowski was killed by a sniper’s bullet last Sept. 23 in eastern Afghanistan, his mother received an e-mail message with a link to a video on the Internet. A television reporter happened to have been filming a story at Sergeant Blaskowski’s small mountain outpost when it came under fire and the sergeant was shot.

Since then, Sergeant Blaskowski’s parents, Cheryl and Terry Blaskowski of Cheboygan, Mich., have watched their 27-year-old son die over and over. Ms. Blaskowski has taken breaks from work to watch it on her computer, sometimes several times a day, studying her son’s last movements.

“Anything to be closer,” she said. “To see what could have been different, how it — ” the bullet — “happened to find him.”

For months, the Blaskowskis felt alone in watching their son die in an isolated and nearly forgotten war. And then, in June, the war in Afghanistan roared back into public view when American deaths from hostilities exceeded those in Iraq. In the face of an expanding threat from the Taliban, the conflict is becoming deadlier and much more violent for American troops, who three weeks ago reached their highest deployment levels ever, at 36,000.

June was the second deadliest month for the military in Afghanistan since the war began, with 23 American deaths from hostilities, compared with 22 in Iraq. July was less deadly, with 20 deaths, compared with six in Iraq. On July 22, nearly seven years after the conflict began on Oct. 7, 2001, the United States lost its 500th soldier in the Afghanistan war.

(The Pentagon says that 563 American service members have died in Operation Enduring Freedom, the umbrella term for the global American-led antiterror campaign that has the Afghanistan war at its center and includes deployments in the Philippines and Africa. Of those deaths, according to an analysis by The New York Times, 510 have occurred in Afghanistan or are directly linked to the war there.)

It will take a new president to finish this war in Afghanistan. John McCain joined the rush to ignore Afghanistan by invading Iraq. Seven years later, it's still far from over and U.S. soldiers continue to die. Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Still laughing about John McCain getting punked by Paris Hilton. That video is brilliant. Be great if just once, a D.C. media consulting firm that earns millions from Democrats, like say, GMMB (Obama's media firm, for example), could do an ad or a video that's brilliant. Just once. We need more of our media types to be real media and creative types, not the same old boring D.C. cautious, conventional wisdom hacks.

I kept hearing people say "See you at the debate, bitches" every where I went yesterday. Granted, I live in D.C. But, when was the last time a political ad had you repeating a line?

Thread the news, please. Read the rest of this post...

The Original Maverick -- or just more of the same

Just more of the same, of course:

Read the rest of this post...

There really is only one gap for McCain: VOTERS

Despite the parsing of polls by some pundits who are all in a competition to be the smartest of the smarty pants, McCain is losing with that key constituency groups called "voters" -- in almost every single poll. In fact, McCain is constantly underperforming with actual voters in the key states that he must win in November.

If a candidate underperforms by one percent or even one vote with "voters," that candidate loses. So, I am going out on a limb here: If McCain underperforms with "voters," he loses. Read the rest of this post...