Biden: "McCain campaign is on the ropes"

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Jake Turcotte

With just under four weeks to go before election day, an email sent early this morning from Joe Biden sounds very confident, perhaps too confident.

"The McCain campaign is on the ropes, and sadly it's no surprise they're responding with attacks and outright lies," Biden's email begins.

"John McCain and Governor Palin are setting a new low in presidential politics with their dishonorable campaign," the email reads.

On the ropes

The second part of the email is voiced in every campaign. So you can throw that away. The first sentence in the email is what's interesting. Yes, the Obama campaign has a significant lead with election day closing in. But to say their opponent's campaign is "on the ropes" signifies, in boxing terms anyway, that you're done. You're over.

Dictionary.com defines it as, "in a defenseless position, as leaning against the ropes to keep from falling." It also defines the phrase as meaning, "in a desperate or hopeless position."

Do you want to be saying your opponent is hopeless at this point?

No need to vote

Our friends over at Gawker are doing exactly what the Obama campaign doesn't want supporters to do.

A blog post published yesterday afternoon is titled, "Don't even bother voting."

It begins, "... Remember when this seemed like another tossup? All the 'insiders' say this one's Obama's. Smart Republicans are looking for good 2012 candidates."

The author of the post is immediately chastised, with one reader writing, "That headline is irresponsible." To be fair, The Vote blog gets this a lot too.

Somethin' awful

Another reader, perhaps a bit more seasoned to the political game than the author writes, "I'm very optimistic that Obama will win, but a lot can change in the next 4 weeks. Maybe I just tend to be negative, but I have this sense of doom, like the Republicans are planning something awful still to come..."

It isn't just the Republican party that would come up with something "awful." It's any campaign that is down and needs to make up ground fast. It's part of the thing we call campaigning.

The A-bomb

McCain didn't drop the A-bomb on Tuesday night as some expected he would. A-bomb as in the Ayers card -- Bill Ayers the guy who hasn't received this much attention since he actually was a part of the violent radical group he co-founded known as The Weather Underground.

Sarah Palin plays this card like a blackjack dealer, mentioning his name more than she says the word "maverick." They're going heavy on this guy. Guilt by association.

A new ad this morning simply titled "Ayers" shows -- without question -- the emphasis the campaign is focusing on Obama's past associates hoping to strike unease in voters about Obama's judgment.

In your face

With polls drooping, the in-your-face campaigning is what some McCain supporters want to see.

Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller are almost pleading with the campaign to hit Obama harder. They say letting McCain show some anger -- although feared by some GOP strategists -- is exactly what this nation needs to see. As in someone who is visibly upset with the lack of oversight from both parties leading to our economy's implosion.

Debate of the Living Dead

We didn't see much anger during Tuesday's debate. Discussing possible movie titles for Tuesday's showdown, O'Reilly offered "Debate of the Living Dead." Miller countered "Bureaucrats on the Caribbean."

To be fair to Miller, despite how it reads, it was actually funny when he said it.

Ugly

The debate was universally panned. Politico's Jim Vandehei and John Harris called it "the worst debate ever," aptly summarizing it with a question:

"The day after leaves behind a puzzle: How the hell did candidates manage to be so timid and uninspiring at a time when American troops are in two problematic wars, the world financial markets are in scary free fall and the Dow has lost 1,400 points since Oct. 1? This is a moment history rarely sees — and both men blew it."

The long ball (again)

Former Clinton strategist and frequent Fox News commentator Dick Morris says McCain has got to "throw the long ball." Go for it. Air it out. Get angry.

To which some may wonder, "does he have another 'Hail Mary' pass" left?

Which card?

The Ayers card is getting played. The Rezko card (as in Chicago developer Antoin Rezko, an Obama associate convicted of bribery) seems to have been played. Many are speculating that Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial former pastor, is next.

By going the "guilt by association" strategy, the McCain campaign is hoping to stop the bleeding. The latest Gallup polls are dreary for the Republican ticket. Addams-family dreary. 11 points now separate the two, with Obama getting 52 percent of those polled and McCain receiving 41 percent.

The good news for the campaign is that two weeks ago both candidates were tied at 46 percent apiece. The bad news is the economic meltdown, which has badly damaged the McCain-Palin ticket, is proving to be something that you just can't "turn the page" on, as McCain's campaign desperately wants to do.

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