You know a debate is a real snoozer when the biggest controversy to come out of it is when a  poorly recycled common stump speech reference by McCain to Obama - as “That One” - makes waves and gets the two campaigns in much more of a tussle than anything on stage last night. In fact, McCain’s remark was probably missed by most folks watching the debate.

But campaigns are campaigns, and the Obama camp loves to peddle anything that makes McCain seem old and grumpy, yelling at “That One” to “get off my lawn…”

The McCain campaign and Republican strategists are trying to spin “That One” as a positive for McCain, saying that the Obama campaign is “the fussiest campaign in American history” for getting offended and suggesting that a general theme of “That One” could be used as a negative jab at Obama on the stump.

McCain advisor, Nicole Wallace dismissed the accusations, suggesting that the charges finicky. “I’m shocked that at a moment of national crisis, where our economy is on the minds of every single person, I am shocked that they are again proving to be the fussiest campaign in American history.�

From Ben Smith...

The most memorable line of the night belonged to John McCain. McCain pointed out that “That One� vote for the 05 energy bill. Look for Republicans to note in coming days that “That One� also voted for higher taxes at least 94 times; “That One� has associations with unrepentant terrorists, etc…

Obama’s the clear leader in the race, but tonight’s town hall format in Nashville gives McCain a built-in advantage. No crazy fireworks…but it should be fun.

• 9:00 - They’re live from Belmont U., and Brokaw is getting ready to kick things off with intros and ground rules.
• 9:01 - Brokaw is on the screen and laying down the almighty ground rules. All the Q’s were picked by Brokaw himself - no one else has even seen them. A surprise one-minute follow-up has been granted, contrary to the original rules. Yay!
• 9:02 -McCain and Obama arrive on stage, greet each other with a quick smile and shake, then take to their respective corners. No doubt it’s a fight…
• 9:05 - First question from the audience is - no surprise - on the economy. Obama gets going immediately, blaming the economic crisis on the “failed policies of the last eight years…supported by Senator McCain.” Obama then goes on to tout his government programs as being excellent job creators. Is it a good idea to talk kindly about “big government spending” in a debate with McCain?
• 9:07 - McCain is roving around the stage,a contrasting image to Obama’s mostly stationary figure. And McCain is speaking directly to the audience member who asked the Q. Does this alienate home viewers?
• 9:08 - McCain gets through the first question without taking any hard shots at Obama - indeed, he barely mentioned his name. The earliest of early impressions has McCain looking much softer than in the first debate and also getting back to the reform mantra of the most successful period of his campaign. No shots yet…
• 9:10 - Obama dodges Brokaw’s follow-up asking the candidate to name possibilities for their prospective treasury secretaries. McCain said Meg Whitman (while eBay just announced 1500 layoffs…).
• 9:11 - Obama mentions the specific words “tax cuts” before McCain!
• 9:13 - Ha, ha! McCain said “Frannie and Freddie”! Says he was in the “forefront” of trying to legislate our way out of the mortgage mess while Obama “stood by…”
• 9:15 - Obama takes the first shots of the evening, saying he has to “correct Senator McCain’s history” and slamming McCain for not getting his self-touted legislation passed and supporting more deregulation while the crisis was popping up. Also brings up that McCain has a “former Fannie lobbyist…running his campaign.” That would be Rick Davis. McCain gets no response time.
• 9:20 - Obama on blame for the deficit: “…McCain voted for four out of five of those George Bush budgets.” McCain responds that he has been “a consistent reformer” in Washington, working in bipartisan ways where Obama “has never taken on the leaders of his party…” Says that voters should look “at our records as well as our rhetoric.”
• 9:22 - McCain gestures (doesn’t look) at Obama: “This is the most liberal big spending record in the United States Senate.”
• 9:26 - Are we the only folks who feel that the forced quiet and staging of the audience is just creepy looking? They just sit there and ask their robotic Q’s…
• 9:28 - Brokaw again gets steamed about the candidate failing to comply with the arcane time limits - one minute - for post-question “discussion” by the candidate not asked the original question. That will never work, Tom. Get over it.
• 9:30 - McCain touts his spending freeze and warns Americans that they must prepare for spending cuts. Then he goes onto ridicule Obama’s assertion that, in the current economic climate, the major problems facing the country must be taken on one at a time. McCain says that “we’re Americans,” and that everything can be taken on at once, because McCain doesn’t want to tell people without health insurance that they “have to wait.” How do you do that with a government spending freeze?
• 9:33 - Brokaw’s picks for the six internet questions are waaaay too specific and wonkish for the vast majority of voters (and us). Do we really care to hear each of the candidates recitations of how the mortgage crisis happened? They aren’t running for chief economist.
• 9:35 - Hmmm… McCain on Obama’s tax policies: “…like nailing Jell-o to the wall…” That always sounds just too darn yucky.
• 9:37 - McCain comes out and addresses the elephant in the room: “I am not in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy…” But Republicans and the McCain campaign always defended the Bush tax cuts and tout “trickle down economics.” So McCain should be defending those “tax cuts for the wealthy.
• 9:38 - Oooooooh. McCain stares directly at Obama after he compares him to Herbert Hoover and admits that “times are bad.” Shouldn’t the big stare-off be saved for some mega-slap at Obama?
• 9:40 - Obama brings out the big guns and plays on voter emotions, accusing McCain of supporting “tax cuts for CEO’s.” Is that jab this year’s dreaded “tax-and-spend” label? Dick Fuld and his fellow Wall Street titans are the most hated people in America right now (much more than Bill Ayers). The idea of giving them tax cuts to but more spa days can’t be appealing…
• 9:43 - Somebody needs to cool down Brokaw. He’s about to have something pop if the candidates break the unenforceable “town hall” rules. I know a town hall. I’m a friend of town halls…
• 9:44 - McCain intones “my friends” for the, say, tenth time tonight. Then he announces his support for an energy plan “like the French, like the Japanese.” So much for “buy American.” Wants “green jobs” just like Obama.
• 9:46 - This debate has not moved off the economy since it began. McCain has gained no traction and is simply repeating lines that have lost him national and battleground leads. It’s a night that must end very well to erase a bland and unremarkable beginning for McCain on his worst issue.
• 9:48 - Brokaw:”Just a reminder…we do have these lights…” T.B. is not very happy right now.
• 9:50 - McCain hates pastry chefs! He keeps applauding the fact hat he voted against “goodies.”
• 9:51 - Obama scores big on explaining his health care plan and ripping McCain’s controversial tax on health benefits. This could have been a festering thorn for Obama if not handled properly. His riff on health care tonight could take that off the table. It’s all about making voters see Obama and think “safe.”
• 9:53 - McCain is basically laying off Obama, taking only very weak shots at his opponent on what is essentially policy differences. He may be taking too literally the orders from his handlers to take pains not to appear surly or visibly angry with Obama or anyone. else. He’s just ambling along the stage, not really saying much and not making any dents in Obama.
• 9:55 - The Fix picks up on the biggest story of the night: “53 minutes in words not mentioned: “Keating”, “Rezko”, “Ayers”. McCain and Obama are hitting each other hard but avoiding the character hit.”
• 9:56 - McCain says health care is a responsibility.” Obama emphatically says it is a right, then throws in a emotional reference to his mother “dying in the hospital” and arguing with her insurance company over payment of her medical expenses. 
• 9:58 - Oops from Obama: “…Banks go to Delaware…they have loose regulation there…” Hello! Joe Biden on your freaking ticket!
  
• 9:59 - Foreign policy finally comes up in this “town hall.” McCain takes the bait and perhaps takes a shot at Obama when he says that “you will hear…a lot of criticism of America…” No way is that some bland reference to anti-war protesters… 
• 10;02 - Obama tries to defuse any controversy:  “Our troops have performed heroically and honorably…”
• 10:03 - Obama is handling the “town hall” format (whatever is left of it here) very well and with absolutely no apprehension. Handling the audience being mere feet away fairly solidly. He won’t lose on style tonight, which had been predicted.
• 10:06 - McCain breathes easy, gets to slam Obama on the Iraq surge, says Obama would “bring troops home in defeat.” Gets to hammer him on an issue that is now utterly irrelevant to swing voters…
• 10:10 -Hmmm.  Chatter about drug trafficking. We will wake up for that…Can you tell this thing is slowing down? Head count of the audience to see how many are still awake (surely not that teenager who is definitely under 18).
• 10:13 - McCain continues to insinuate that Obama wants to attack Pakistan. Obama: “Nobody is calling for the invasion of Pakistan.” Then boldly brings up McCain’s old “bomb, bomb Iran” gaffe. Sad when this is the first really personal and negative swipe of the night. And it’s from Obama! With 15 minutes left! McCain meekly says he was “joking” with the Iran ditty. And again flatly says Obama will “attack Pakistan.”
• 10:21 - Anybody else watching “Dirty Jobs”? Sort of sums up the position of POTUS - and the campaign. And it’s so much more entertaining than this snooze-fest. We’re reduced to counting mustache sightings and how many times McCain says “my friends.”
• 10:25 - An audience question from “Terry Scherry” in Section A? Dear goodness. Oh…he’s military. Sorry for the joke.  Did McCain just pat him on the shoulder?
• 10:26 - A wild thought: Does tonight’s utterly lifeless debate hurt Obama in the end by actually causing new voters to tune out from the campaign and not even vote? Wild, we know. But possible?
• 10:29 - Obama promises “dire consequences” for Iran if they don’t “change their policies.”
• 10:30 - Final question from “the internet” (like those AT&T commercials…): “What don’t you know and how will you get to know it.” Huh? This debate (not even worthy of the term “town hall”) has been SO LAME.
• 10:34: McCain gets a the final Q and goes into a tame stump speech. It’s over!

Nothing that makes news or shocks voters coming out of this. Both candidates were good enough, but shaky on their usual weak spots. McCain loses simply because he had to meekly talk about thee economy for an hour and never hit Obama - like he and his campaign promised so devilishly this week. Palin’s beloved “gloves” never came off tonight.

Obama gets this one not quite by default. He was reassuring on the economy and good enough on everything else,

Does McCain lose tonight because he’s angry and combative or win because he’s “full of vigor” and “ready to challenge Obama on any topic”?

That Q just seems to be the perfect factor to determine how McCain does tonight. The “angry” stuff won’t come up if he handles it well. It will be tossed about by every pundit as the reason that he failed in the debate if he simply comes across as more of the “get off my lawn!” same…

Yet another lame sports analogy used to describe the plight of John McCain as he heads into the second presidential debate tonight in Nashville. McCain is reeling from a snowballing financial crisis and watching national and battleground polls light up for Obama, causing more than a few trigger-happy pundits - and many ashen-faced Republicans - to call the race for Obama with almost a month to go until election day.

The McCain-Palin team is taking shots from every angle, getting ripped by the media and voters alike for mishandling the economic crisis, McCain’s increasingly angry public rhetoric, and the campaign’s well-publicized decision to dig out every dirty campaign trick in the book (and some freshly minted by McCain…) to attack Obama, going so far as to all him a “liar” and accuse him of having “unrepentant terrorist” bankroll his political beginnings. It has become a campaign of desperation willing to try anything to spark a new dialogue within the race that manages to focus attention on the character and integrity of Barack Obama, not o the faltering economy.

The promises to play hard and fight dirty from the McCain campaign have sparked an instant reaction from the Obama camp. Counterattacks against McCain for his own brand of “lies” and the two decades-old Keating Five scandal  have already surfaced from the Dem nominee. Aided by the daily slaughters on Wall Street and surging tension among ordinary Americans about their own financial future, Obama has been wildly successful in deflecting attention away from the various references to Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright and keeping the economic pressure on McCain. Accusations from Obama that McCain is trying to “change the subject” from the economy and that he doesn’t “understand” how to get out of the current crisis have played into the immovable skepticism that voters have cultured about McCain on the most important issue of this campaign. As much skepticism as they had about John Kerry’s ability to relate to “real” Americans. As much skepticism about Obama’s ability to do the same. The economy has become McCain’s “bitter” comment; it has become his helmet on a tank moment. It’s very bad…

Bad enough for McCain that he can’t shift the needle in the other direction in one town hall debate? Not yet. Tonight’s Nashville showdown will go a long way to telling us how much of a shot John McCain still has left to win this race. There is no more time to let Sarah Palin take up the cause and hog the attention, spitting out her “middle-class” frontier charm. The VP fight ended with a whisper last week, leaving voters uninspired and more eager then ever to size up the real candidates two more times. The spotlight of expectations and the pressure to deliver will once again be on John McCain tonight.

The McCain campaign knows the importance if this showdown. You’re hearing precious little of the usual pre-debate expectations setting and hyperbole about how the other candidate is so much better and will have all the pressure to perform well because he’s just so gosh darn good and has studied the issue so gosh darn much and has so many gosh darn friends in the debate city, etc. This is McCain’s game, a town hall format that forces a gangly Obama to roam around a stage, looking all-too stuffy and primed to ramble, while the fighter pilot  stalks around like he’s ready to go in for the kill with his snappy quips and killer lines. It’s a stage perfectly set for McCain, and his campaign knows it.

And McCain needs to perform like he’s under pressure, understand the stakes and cheerfully pounce on Obama’s every statement. This is no time for awkwardly trying to bring Bill Ayers or Rezko into the discussion - but he will. He will have every opportunity to  at least attempt to reassure concerned swing voters that he understands their economic pain and will fight (loved those old lines from St. Paul…) for their, and the country’s, financial security. High taxes and big government need to be on the table for McCain - mostly because they’re the only truthful arguments he has left to hit Obama with. Hurtling mud up to where Obama currently sits is destined to have little effect in the face of angry voters who already have a pre-determined skepticism of your ability to handle an issue - the economy - that now ranks as by far the most important facet of this race.

Another hint for McCain: The Swiftboat ads against Kerry started airing in August of 2004. We’re now a month out from election day, and still there are no coherent and relentless efforts to go negative on Obama. We thought we saw it with the celebrity theme in August. That bombed. We thought a consistent anti-Obama message formed when Palin was named McCain’s running mate and the new team started hammering their opponent as someone who wouldn’t bring “real change” and who was secretly cynical and perturbed by Middle America. Now it’s October, and up comes the barrel of mud that is Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s “lies.” All of this in the midst of what many economists are calling  the worst financial meltdown since the Depression.

Now how is that really supposed to win?

M.P. 

• Sarah Palin appears to have hijacked the McCain campaign as of late, with her harsh attacks on Obama’s “associates” and a strange push to continue the fight in Michigan after the campaign decided to pull out of the former toss-up state last week. Palin has been a far more forceful anti-Obama voice on the campaign trail than McCain, partly due to the GOP nominee’s intense debate prep, partly due to the campaign trying to replicate that early September bump when Palin was constantly on the trail and on the offensive. So far, Palin is the main tool used by the McCain campaign in preparing to launch their post-debate negative assault on character issues. First was the “pallin’ around with terrorists” comment from Palin, since repeated at nearly every stop made by McCain’s running mate. It coincided perfectly with dire threats from Republicans that the campaign is willing to ditch working on the economy in favor of outright personal attacks and dredging up concern among voters for the controversial relationships in Obama’s political past. That list included Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko - not Jeremiah Wright. But Palin might have initiated a flip-flop on that point when she gladly discussed the Wright/Obama connection with Bill Kristol. She ran with Kristol’s assertion that Wright should be brought up, saying that “these appalling things” should be “discussed more.” Is this a campaign-approved move off message after the Obama campaign went for Keating 5? Or is it another instance where the feisty Sarah Palin has shaken off her handlers and is steering the McCain campaign’s anti-Obama strategy?

• More on the briefly mentioned effort to re-raise Keating 5 by the Obama campaign. Bringing up McCain’s messy involvement in the Keating scandal is a major cog in the campaign’s plan to preempt McCain’s leaked strategy of going after Obama on personal issues and abandoning any efforts to beat him on the economy or foreign policy. Dire warnings from GOP insiders that there will be “nonstop” hits on Obama’s past connections were met with yesterday’s ad calling McCain “erratic” on the economy and a new website and web video retelling the story of McCain and Keating 5, complete with insinuations that the scandal should raise questions among voters as to McCain’s ability to handle a shaky economy. David Plouffe defends the decision to go with Keating by saying that there “many parallels to the current crisis” - obviously an effort to get voters to pile up more skepticism about McCain and the economy. There is really no reason for the Obama camp not to raise Keating. It was a searing episode for McCain and one that was very messy and very public, initiating his anti-special interest crusade but also lurking in the background, always there as a potential weapon to be used against McCain’;s credibility. That it also ties into current issues makes it all the more attractive for Obama to use. The only problem is that Obama himself is on record from earlier in the campaign saying that he would rather not bring up Keating 5 against McCain. Of course, McCain told his campaign to pull the plug on any Rev. Wright mentions, only to see Sarah Palin break out that bomb to the world in the New York Times…

• It goes without saying that McCain and his campaign are busy thinking up strategies to shake voters up and get them to turn away from the economic doldrums and their own financial concerns. McCain is being battered by the economy and, as things stand right now, will almost certainly lose the election. The economy isn’t going away as an issue within a month and the most recent swing voter migration to Obama doesn’t appear to be short lived. It’s a nationwide and a multi-ideological phenomenon, with big boosts for the Dem nominee driving his success from Virginia to New Mexico. The only job for McCain in tomorrow’s debate and for the rest of the race is to turn the dialogue away from the economy and back to it being a referendum on Barack Obama. The superficial boost for McCain after choosing Palin - and it was on a very shaky foundation - occurred mainly because of the contrast with Obama that the pick and the McCain-Palin rhetoric cemented in the minds of voters. Obama became a haughty lightweight who didn’t understand real Americans. Of course, the economic collapse then turned the tables and shined the “out-of-touch” spotlight on McCain. Their goal now is to build on his long-ago boost and paint an even starker image of what McCain-Palin see Obama as, and somehow get voters to see the same picture.

• Is Virginia turning blue? That’s what VA Republicans see and what the latest polls in the race clearly lay out. McCain is losing his grip on the commonwealth, one of several red states that are souring on McCain-Palin in the face of economic crisis. GOP fears in Virginia are not only over how strong Obama’s organization and pull in the commonwealth is, but how little attention is being paid there by the McCain campaign, even as VA becomes a serious toss-up on all election maps. McCain and Palin have appeared in Virginia just once, a startling contrast to Obama-Biden’s seemingly constant presence in the last month. McCain ads have also been pulled from the D.C. TV market that reaches into most of Northern Virginia’s suburbs - a swing voter hotbed. There is a general sense that the McCain campaign was lulled into complacency by looking at the old electoral maps and by the sugar rush that boosted the campaign early last month - and then sent them spiraling into their current malaise. But some in the Virginia GOP see the troubles for McCain as being partly out of the campaign’s control. The economy in the commonwealth, like the rest of the nation, is the most important issue for swing voters, and it’s an issue where McCain just isn’t gaining traction.

• The Obama campaign is looking beyond Virginia and is intent on staying competitive in a host of red states that are traditionally not even on the electoral radar of Democrats in presidential contests. Virginia is swiftly becoming a lean Obama stronghold, while states like Indiana, North Carolina and even Georgia are receding into toss-up status from safe locales for McCain as little as a few weeks ago. Obama wants to prove the doubters of his red state strategy wrong, and the economy  - the only plank that Obama can run on in red states - is providing the perfect pitch to angry swing voters unable to trust McCain to handle the ongoing fiscal crisis.

• Michelle Obama will travel to North Carolina for a campaign event with military families in Jacksonville. The campaign has been using Michelle consistently over the past weeks as a reliable emissary to women voters and more moderate swing demographics. She will be battling for attention with Sarah Palin, who will also be in the unthinkable battleground of NC on Tuesday.

Tonight’s vice presidential debate in St. Louis is being billed as something far more entertaining and explosive as any of the more staid and predictable presidential showdowns between McCain and Obama. This is supposed to be where Biden finally stick his foot in his mouth and where Palin makes a strong play for sexism and media bias on a stage far grander than Katie Couric or Hannity & Colmes. Tonight is when the campaign gets dirty. Will it live up to the hype?

Joe Biden is in the odd position for a politician where fading into the background and simply sticking to the boring talking points will probably be seen as a victory for him and his ticket. The buzz from the MSM and the Right is that Biden will get rightfully lasted for any comment or action seen as mean or unfair to Palin. The ugly charge of “sexism” will also rear its head. The McCain campaign is literally counting on a Biden gaffe to make it an easy night for Palin, not just because that is such a likely proposition but also due to the rampant skepticism over the campaign chops of McCain’s running mate.

All of those downplaying Palin’s ability to handle a moderator and a debate format obviously weren’t watching the ample C-SPAN replays of some of Palin’s debate performances during the Alaska race for governor in 2006. The tapes showed a calm and relatively collected political pro with a penchant for homey off-the-cuff remarks. It worked in Alaska; why shouldn’t it work just fine on the big stage?

The key to the performances for both candidates will be how Palin reacts to the questions. Legitimate concerns (panic?) were raised inside and outside the GOP after Gov. Palin’s two fairly disastrous interviews with two of the Big Three networks. She exhibited a stunning lack of knowledge on everything from foreign policy to newspapers and showed that she had been extensively coached on most every topic outside of her own record. She can’t do that tonight. Palin can cover up the holes and the skepticism without the aid of a Biden stumble by simply keeping a strong visible exterior and turning on the backwoods charm that roped in the swing voters after she was picked by McCain. Every race comes down to something of a personality contest when all is said and done…

We’ve got old and new politics. We have the Washington vet everyman against “the new energy” from the frontier. We have the recipe for political fireworks - a truly rare event.

• The all-too-familiar game of finger pointing has begun among Democrats and Republicans in the wake of yesterday’s failed bailout bill in the House. Whether it’s Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner or John McCain, the blame is being spread around. But a more likely reason for the stunning death of the $700 billion compromise is voter anger and grass roots pressure forcing many lawmakers to make a last-minute switch on a bill they already had serious reservations about. Angry voters swamped Congress with complaints about a “free pass” for greedy investors and apparently swayed enough panicked incumbents to kill the legislation. Democrats in the House also felt pressure to vote ‘no’ either from the same angry conservative base or when liberals decided that there weren’t enough plums in the bailout for the working-class or to create more social programs to help low-income homeowners and job seekers. The anger and pressure on those in the House desperate to appease voters in a year with sub-20% Congressional approval ratings was simply too much. Could the major players like Pelosi or McCain have done more to coalesce their respective parties behind the bill and ignore the grass roots displeasure? Probably. But McCain’s political stunt last week or Pelosi’s anti-Bush floor rant were not the biggest reasons for yesterday’s flame-out.

• Did members of Congress miscalculate voter anger towards the bailout and only manage to hurt the country and their own reelection chances by opposing the bill en masse? Americans are split nearly 50-50 if you look at polls on support for the bailout, and the numbers are even higher when they are asked if they want Congress to do something to prop up the collapsing financial markets. Did those in the House that voted ‘no’ simply take the easiest route and listen to a vocal conservative minority while ignoring the feelings of most of their constituents? Odds are that voters who see more partisan gridlock in Congress while their retirement accounts disappear and their banks get eaten up will start to badger politicians the other way on the bailout.

• It’s getting harder and harder to decide where McCain actually stands on the bailout package still before the House and whether or not he even wants this specific legislation passed. The last week has seen mixed messages from McCain and his campaign, from the campaign “suspension” stunt so McCain could attend talks in Washington to his comments from yesterday where he railed against the idea of a bailout but decided that he would “swallow hard” and vote for it anyway if it came to the Senate unchanged. Now the GOP nominee may be understanding the gravity of the situation and the fact that more voters blame him specifically for the failure than they do House Democrats or Barack Obama. McCain has decided to help in the spin game on the bailout, actually dropping the “bailout” term and calling it a “rescue”effort this morning.  McCain seemed to embrace the Obama position on the bill, expressing reservations but saying that the it was “vital” to pass the legislation as a “rescue of Main Street America.”

• What was the role of Newt Gingrich (of all people…) in killing the bailout legislation in the House yesterday? Newt is still an out-and-out rock star among conservatives and the House GOP, so his early skepticism about the bailout reinforced doubts about the Fed plan from many Republicans and conservatives. Newt had been bashing the bailout up until the vote commenced, whereupon he released a  statement on his web site that said House GOPers should vote for it despite risks. But that turnaround came too late for many members who had already made up their mind after being in contact with Gingrich earlier in the week for discussions on the bailout. Yes, Newt apparently had been conducting dozens of calls with House Republicans and leaders keeping tabs on the bill and voicing his concerns with what many conservatives called “quasi-socialism.” The hottest rumor surrounding all of this is that Newt is trying to retain as much control of the conservative movement and to create new allies in the House and elsewhere to possibly launch a presidential bid for 2012 if McCain loses (as Newt thinks he will).

• More consolidation on the positions of the two presidential candidates on the financial crisis currently griping Wall Street and the campaign. Obama announced a new proposal that he said should be inserted into the bailout bill to engender broader support, calling for raising the FDIC insured limit on bank deposits to $250,000 from its current $100,000. Obama said raising the limit would “restore confidence” in banks and reassure families that their deposits are secure and that they shouldn’t start withdrawing their money, which would obviously cause an even greater crisis. This is a move that had been endorsed by msot economists and is seen as something that could be inserted into the bailout bill in order to make it more appealing to conservative House members concerned about shutting out ordinary Americans from any Fed assistance. Obama’s announcement was followed up later by a comment from McCain in a CNN interview that he also thinks the FDIC limits should be raised to an unspecified amount. It’s better late than never, but this little development today is yet another instance where it seems that Obama is leading McCain along during this crisis. It at least fosters a viewpoint that McCain can’t handle the economy and is forced to play catch-0up so he won’t be left out of any possible solution. Copy the work to get the credit…

• There are now daily concerns being voiced publicly and privately by Republicans about the ability of Sarah Palin to both serve as an able vice-president and to prove a strong and effective running mate for McCain in the final weeks of the campaign. Thursday’s debate is seen as the final chance for Palin to put the string of embarrassing and rather telling interviews behind her and convince voters that she is not a political and public risk and that she understands the issues enough for the VP role. While GOP strategists and conservative media types are worried that Palin will continue to blow big questions on the actual issues (foreign policy, economy, etc…), there is word that the McCain campaign will use the debate to re-launch Palin to play on voter emotions, portraying herself as a sympathetic character who has been bullied by Dems and the press and who better understands everyday Americans than Joe Biden or Barack Obama. The McCain camp is counting on a brusque and heavy-handed performance by Biden on Thursday to allow Palin to play up her innocence and ability to connect with voters.

• The bailout takes center stage today as the House is debating the measure at this very moment and discussions over how much the Fed assistance will really tamp down the crisis goes on amidst yet another desperate bank buyout - this one of Wachovia. But at least the Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill hammered out some sort of compromise plan that gets the Bush administration’s $700 billion approved while inserting taxpayer “protections” that both parties wanted. The candidates have also joined the supporters of the bill in pledging to work to get it passed in the Senate later this week. McCain’s initial concern with such a massive plan had eased by this morning, when he said that everyone must “swallow hard” and get the bailout passed. Obama had similar reservations but decided to mostly tout his role in the intense negotiations between Capitol Hill and the Fed. “For two weeks I was on the phone everyday with (Treasury) Secretary (Henry) Paulson and the congressional leaders making sure that the principles that have been ultimately adopted were incorporated in the bill.“

• No-brainers from the two campaigns today as confirmation comes down that both McCain and Obama will head back to Washington when the Fed bailout plan comes up for a Senate vote later this week. One intriguing nugget from the McCain announcement is that Jill Hazelbaker added something to McCain’s original line on the bailout from yesterday and this morning, saying that the GOP nominee “expects” to vote ‘yes’ on the plan, but would take a “hard look” if the final version up for a Senate vote differed significantly from the initial compromise. So McCain is still walking right down the line on a plan that he clearly wants no part of, but has to accept for political reasons.

• Major news on the Clinton front as Bill Clinton is confirmed to campaign for Obama - solo, that is - in Florida later this week. He will head to south Florida and Orlando on Wednesday before exiting the trail that same day. We told you that Obama and Clinton had talked about some sort of solo campaign gig at their big lunch in New York on 9/11; apparently it took their respective camps this long to finalize agreeable details. But it’s always a mixed bag when Bill gets involved with Obama, so you would expect a cryptic message from POTUS 42. He was on “Meet the Press” yesterday and failed to describe Obama as a “great man” when pressed by Brokaw to do so in response to repeated quips from Bill on the trail that McCain is a “great man.” He begged of on the query, saying that he had only met Obama for the first time at that lunch. So will the media storyline during what should be a huge boost for Obama  - that Florida trip - instead be all about the convoluted relationship between the Dem nominee and the former party standard bearer? Take a guess…

• McCain is working hard to win Ohio even as the recent polls from the battleground state show Obama regaining his lost points and mojo from over the summer.The McCain-Palin team is in Columbus today for one of their uber-rallies and McCain himself granted a rare interview with the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. Apparently battleground media gets a grudging pass from the press war being fought by Team McCain. Nothing special from the interview outside of more lukewarm language in support of the bailout (”…it has to work”) and some minimal chatter about how he would improve Ohio’s flagging economy - how does he ignore that? You get a sense that McCain and his staff are really struggling to work up a viable argument for the economy. Tax and spending is all they’re currently hitting Obama with, ignoring jobs and everyday worries. Do you remember that fleeting attempt to push McCain-Palin as a conservative populist ticket? That almost worked; why not try again?

• Desperation and panic are all that can describe the mad dash to make Sarah Palin debate-ready by Thursday night. Her initial burst of positive energy for McCain and a bulletproof storyline have withered in the face of voter obsession with the economy and her horrific major network interviews making more of a splash than the less-than-media-savvy McCain campaign had thought. Not everyone looks at Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric as the evil enemy. But the campaign senses a real opportunity as Palin gets set to take on Joe Biden in what will surely a be an entertaining and politically important event. Debate prep is already underway for Palin, but there have been considerable tweaks after her disappointing performances in what are essentially debate-style interviews. Questions asked of her Thursday are bound to be similar to those she muffed on ABC and CBS -only more of them and in front of a much larger audience. The old Bush team that had been taking care of Palin’s education on the issues has been dumped, replaced by the cream of the campaign - Rick Davis, part-time counseling by Steve Schmidt and one-on-one help from McCain’s debate coach. These three are taking over the duties and are ready for what is said to a marathon session of prep sometime this week in Arizona. Palin will also be subject to at least one more mock-debate with her new handlers (no word on who is playing Biden) after McCain insiders anonymously reported that she couldn’t even finish her initial mock-ups in the last two weeks.

Leave it to the current wild and wacky presidential contest and the many crises the U.S. is juggling to inject themselves into the normally staid and tightly scheduled world of presidential debates. It’s the first one up and we’ve already had one candidate call for a bipartisan cancellation and then almost do a unilateral no-show, with McCain only coming to his senses around Noon today. Then the staggering economy infringes on the long-chosen topic for tonight - foreign policy and national security. We’re in the middle of a potential financial meltdown and the first debate is supposed to be all about the GWOT and  Iraq?

As for the candidates and the campaign, ‘upheaval’ doesn’r even begin to describe what has gone on since just the 1st of August. Lead changes and momentum swings, running mates and lipstick on pigs - it’s all been there. The convulsive nature of the issues in the race and the very nature of the race itself have been amazing. It’s the sort of ting where the budget of Wasilla, Alaska is a big deal one minute, $1 trillion of potential government bailouts is on everyone’s minds the next.

And into this bubbling turmoil and utterly manic campaign steps the first debate. It should be civil, revealing and vague. Is it really possible to be all three things at one time?  We’ll find that out tonight. Foreign policy and security will dominate the proceedings. Still no word on how the format will be modified to include economic talk, but we’re sure it will be there. There is no golden rule for these debates that says the specified topics shall be unchanging and cover the entire event. The commission wants to stay relevant and won’t want to be accused of ignoring new developments or the desires of voters. Domestic chatter will be present, probably as the festivities begin.

Laying out what you should watch for tonight is a bit tricky. This will be a dual debate designed for two different audiences. The issue at hand is the economy and its current tribulations, with most voters putting it the top of their list of important topics and with swing voters in economically troubled states finally starting to make their final decision for November. These are the voters that McCain and Obama need to play for non-stop until Election Day. Any move by them to keep the theme on the economy will give them a chance to win points and move the needle among a crowd tired of Iraq and ignorant about the GWOT. But drop the ball on security entirely (not a problem for McCain) and you could lose ground among voters watching for all around performance and a “presidential” character. Thus the two audiences.

What else to watch…

• Economy should come first and will be the main focus for voters and the candidates. This is a time where specifics could be discussed and challenges made, with major points to be earned among the Rust Belt crowd for the one who connects on a real and emotional level. They can’t just go through the motions

• Obama gets to do what he loves best; act as the cool frontrunner with only enough answers to wow the undecided. He can afford an average night on FP and security if he doesn’t let McCain get under his skin and hits with class on the economy. Make McCain go on the defensive with a minimalist style, not major slaps that appear forced and just plain mean. A debate is the one forum where it helps to keep yourself above the fray and on another level from your opponent.

• How will McCain handle the economy? This was supposed to be the one debate where he shines, where he blows Obama out of the water. He stinks with this format as it is; how is he supposed to take shots on the economy, too? Especially after he flubbed his big shot at bailout success in Washington yesterday. With the plan dead until next week, he must admit defeat and pledge to do better. Saying that he “saved our economy” (or so says his media folks) will sound a real sour note with informed voters. They are paying close attention to a crisis that involves their money and their daily lives.

• How do both candidates handle the surge? This is where it gets prickly for Obama. He has flip-flopped and now agrees that McCain’s surge was a “success” and has lowered violence. But he still thinks it was a bad idea and doesn’t see how it will lead to long-term stability. And he wants U.S. troops out. Does McCain hammer him on this no matter what, or is there some magic bullet that Obama can unveil to deflect the criticism? Can he tweak his message to give it more integrity? McCain will spend a lot of time building up his leadership ability and judgment based solely on the surge. He will go over the top in praising himself and in tearing down Obama. He could very well win the debate strictly because of his surge argument. But that doesn’t help him on the economy or with swing voters. They know he was right on Iraq and that he made a better call than Obama. But that’s the only spot where the trust his decision making.

Always entertaining to watch the campaigns set their opponents up for supreme failure before these debates. It happened in the primaries, now it’s time for the real deal.

Tonight’s showdown in Oxford features a strange mix of being centered on foreign policy - a McCain strength - but with voter attention and more than a few questions from the moderator on the economy in a medium that better fits Obama. Realistically, the entire night is probably between toss-up and lean-Obama. Does anyone think he won’t be able to put McCain on the defensive about the economy and then wish his way through the foreign policy questions?

The Obama campaign’s pre-debate spin is decidedly different in their early take on the festivities. They see McCain as having an unparalleled advantage thanks to the overarching foreign policy topic and McCain’s “quarter century of experience” in Washington.

Bottom line: the Obama team sets “sky high expectations” for McCain tonight in the following “strategy memo.”

Already declaring victory before the debate has even started, in ads running on the Wall Street Journal website, John McCain meets Barack Obama tonight to debate foreign policy - McCain’s professed area of expertise. 

The centerpiece of John McCain’s campaign has been his more than a quarter century of experience in Washington learning about and debating foreign policy.   If he slips up, makes a mistake, or fails to deliver a game-changing performance, it will be a serious blow to his campaign.   Given his unsteady performance this week, he desperately needs to win this debate in a big way in order to change the topic and get back to his home turf.

For eight years, McCain has marched in lockstep with every single major Bush decision, while Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning and has called for a focus on Afghanistan and al Qaeda.  Americans want to know whether John McCain will stop spending $10 billion in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a $79surplus and our economy is in turmoil.  Will he continue a policy that has taken our eye off al Qaeda and Afghanistan, and let Iran make progress in building a nuclear weapon?  Will he continue the cowboy diplomacy and empty bluster that has shredded our alliances and set back our standing in the world?  The fact is, John McCain will continue more of these same failed foreign policies. Barack Obama will lead us in a new direction.

On the economy, McCain’s words and actions over the course of the past week have illuminated his lack of expertise.  He admitted he does not understand the economy — his erratic, out-of-touch behavior this week, his failure to do anything of substance to move the agreement forward on the bailout, and his commitment to continuing Bush economic policies, demonstrate it.  But there are some questions we might see answered tonight after McCain’s misadventure to Washington and the phony ’suspension’ of his campaign.  For example, will McCain finally say where he stands on the unworkable and counterproductive House Republican plan?  Will he be willing to buck his own party? 

According to the pundits, McCain’s debating skills are unparalleled, as you can see below, and the expectations for him tonight are sky-high.