Friday Morning: McCain's Rough Week; No Bounce for Barack; and McAuliffe Changes His Tune

Happy Friday, everyone!

And no one is probably happier than John McCain that this week is almost over (including us, and we are spending the weekend at the beach). The week has been a tough slog for the GOP nominee-to-be, with a string of bad-news stories, media eye-rolling, and unfortunate visual contrasts with Barack Obama's bombastic overseas swing. The NYT's Elisabeth Bumiller says it all with this description of a moment in Pennsylvania on Wenesday:

"I am again deeply disappointed that Senator Obama would not recognize the fact that the surge has succeeded," Mr. McCain said in typical, now-daily comments before the refrigerated case of cheese in Bethlehem, Pa.

That's right: the refrigerated case of cheese. That was on the day Barack Obama visited Yad Vashem and met with Israeli leaders about the peace process and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The AP gives its own rundown of McCain's string of tough news cycles, but also points out that the week wasn't a total bust for McCain: "amid the awkward moments, he managed to campaign busily in key battleground states and to raise millions of dollars at fundraisers." And with voters consistently telling pollsters that economic issues top their list of concerns, it may have been wise to spend the week in Pennsylvania and Ohio instead of Israel and Paris. After all, only Americans can vote in November.

But there's no question that this week's version of media "balance" often seemed to consist of a glowing story about Barack Obama with a counterpoint detailing McCain's litany of missteps. Said an annoyed McCain at a cancer fundraiser with retired cycling phenom Lance Armstrong last night:

My opponent, of course, is traveling in Europe, and tomorrow his tour takes him to France. In a scene Lance would recognize, a throng of adoring fans awaits Sen. Obama in Paris -- and that's just the American press.

Hahahaha...sob. It must be said, though, that 200,000 American flag-waving Germans do create a remarkable spectacle. More so, certainly, than a bratwurst lunch in Columbus, Ohio. Can McCain really lay the blame entirely on the press given this week's major storyline gap?

Nonetheless, Obama does not seem to be getting a bounce in the polls. In fact, a new Quinnipiac poll shows McCain gaining in four key states. Rasmussen has him closing the gap in New Hampshire. And an NBC/WSJ poll shows Obama's lead static since the last poll in June. The pollmasters at FiveThirtyEight caution not to read too much into those numbers just yet, as polling bounces usually operate with a bit of a delay...but we can't quite ignore them either.

And Obama wraps up the week on a bit of a downer: he cancelled a visit to wounded troops at Landstuhl hospital in Germany for fear the stop would look inappropriately political on a campaign trip, and came under blistering criticism from the McCain campaign, who icily blitzed the press with: "Barack Obama is wrong. It is never 'inappropriate' to visit our men and women in the military."

Finally, in perhaps the weirdest veepstakes news of the week, relentless Hillary Clinton loyalist Terry McCauliffe yesterday put on the full-court press for the person he thinks would make the best candidate for Vice-President: VA Gov Tim Kaine. Maybe he still thinks HRC is "the next President of the United States"?

Today: Obama meets with Sarkozy in Paris; McCain speaks to the GI Forum Convention in Denver and then meets with the Dalai Lama in Aspen.

-- Evie Stone

10:00 AM ET | 07-25-2008 | permalink

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