Thursday Morning: Fightin' McCain; Stocks Can't Find the "Up" Button; and Political Baseball

Good morning, folks.

With the last presidential debate now firmly in the can, we have officially entered the home stretch. Can't you almost taste Election Day?

Here's a hint at how last night's debate unfolded, via the morning headlines: "John McCain Aggressively Criticizes Obama". "McCain Seen As Aggressor". "McCain Attacks". "A Feisty McCain".

McCain certainly arrived in Hempstead, NY, ready to rumble. He laced up his gloves early and went on the offensive. By most accounts, that was his primary goal for the night. He needed to swing away, forcing Obama into a more defensive posture on a range of hot-button issues: Bill Ayers, ACORN, tax policy, energy issues, public financing, the negative ad war, the overall tone and tenor of the campaign, to name a few. By that measure, McCain did what he needed to do. He was pointed, insistent, focused, even energetic. He had a number of impressive parries and memorable comebacks, including this morning's most quoted zinger:

Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago. I'm going to give a new direction to this economy in this country.

But a more daunting question remains: Did McCain do enough to slow Obama's momentum? Perhaps more importantly, is there enough time for McCain to seize control of this race? Karl Rove sounds off in The Wall Street Journal, with more than a hint of uncertainty in his voice:

The past month has taken an enormous toll on the McCain campaign. Whether it can find the right formula in the next 19 days to dig out is a question. If Mr. McCain succeeds, he will have engineered the most impressive and improbable political comeback since Harry Truman in 1948. But having to reach back more than a half-century for inspiration is not the place campaign managers want to be now.

And Politico's John Harris and Jim Vandehei wonder where the McCain of old has gone:

You can bet that in the coming days, pundits will say John McCain should have shown us the old John McCain. You know, the one who is a maverick, who loves the press and who seems so damn likable. As last night's debate showed, that John McCain is long gone. What we saw Wednesday night was the John McCain this campaign has produced. A man of passion - but one who struggles mightily to present himself as the most plausible candidate in these depressing economic times.

Meanwhile, Obama -- who, interestingly enough, is now regularly described by the mainstream media as cool, placid, and unflustered (remember when aloof and cold were also part of that list?) -- wasted no time this morning downplaying his campaign's surge in the polls. He urged his supporters not to get too excited, too early. Via ABC's Jake Tapper:

For those of you who are feeling giddy or cocky or think this is all set," Obama said, "I just have two words for you: New Hampshire." Polls indicated Obama would win the Granite State primary in January, but he lost to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY. "I've been in these positions before when we were favored and the press starts getting carried away and we end up getting spanked," Obama said. "That's another good lesson that Hillary Clinton taught me.

Make no mistake: the sprint is on.

Uggh. Now for the broken record portion of the Roundup...

Hoping to capitalize on Monday's stellar showing, the Dow tripped... stumbled... and fell yesterday to the tune of 733 points, subsequently dragging down markets around the world. The Nikkei shed over 11% of its value, its biggest one-day loss in two decades. So what is it this time?

Investors were shaken by new economic data released by the Federal Reserve showing the country's retail sales drooped by 1.2 percent in September, the third drop in as many months. That was almost double what was expected. Coupled with gooped up credit markets, rising fears of a global recession, and a less-than-joyous Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, it was a case of more bad news placed on a growing midden of bad numbers and gloomy forecasts.

This morning brings more of the same. As I write, the Dow is down 200 points and shows little sign of settling down. Investor confidence is certainly an expensive luxury these days.

Before I close, let's talk baseball. Yes, the Phillies are headed to The Big Show. Kudos. But you might have to sit around an extra 18 minutes before seeing them take the field for Game 6. This is where politics interrupts cotton candy and curve balls.

Fox Sports and Major League Baseball have agreed to delay Game 6 of the World Series by 18 minutes to make room for a 30-minute Obama ad. The move is already drawing fire from Republicans. RNC spokesman Alex Conant issued a statement last night berating Obama:

It's unfortunate that the World Series' first pitch is being delayed for Obama's political pitch. Not only is Obama putting politics before principle, he's putting it before our national pastime.

The Obama campaign shelled out $1 million for the prime time slot. It purchased similar slots on CBS and NBC.

On a personal note, if my Red Sox meet the Phils in the World Series, I'm not sure I want politics mixing with my popcorn. Just saying.

-- Sean Bowditch

11:03 AM ET | 10-16-2008 | permalink

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