New narrative
“Here comes the McCain comeback — again,” ABC’s Rick Klein writes in the Note at abcnews.go.com.
“A bulldog is in place, outside help is on the way, and the candidate is even coming back to the country on his new plane (action-hero style — along with some hostages).
“With a new man at the helm, an action-hero-style trip abroad, and outside groups ready to help, John McCain is poised for at least the perception of a resurgence — and that could drive reality.
Suddenly, Sen. John McCain is catching some breaks,” Mr. Klein said.
“And so the new narrative is primed and in place (and it’s the same as an old narrative): McCain could actually do this thing. (Actually, while the polls remain tight, right now he’d settle for not being counted out — but he’ll take what he can get.)
“Maybe the start of his Colombia trip (and that’s with two ’Os’) — when McCain left U.S. soil, with its sputtering economy and spiraling gas prices, and declared war on drugs like it was 1984 — will be remembered like the house-cleaning of almost exactly a year ago: When the campaign hit bottom.
“McCain is writing the latest script with Steve Schmidt, who brings discipline, decisiveness, and determination to his new role — and most importantly, the perception of all three qualities for the journalists and GOP insiders who were almost ready to give up on McCain.
“No more silly backdrops, whiffed opportunities, and bad travel decisions; instead, a taste of the Bush/Arnold swagger for the final four-month stretch.”
Boxing match
“One way to envision the McCain-Obama presidential race is as a boxing match — particularly like the famous Mohammed Ali championship fights,” Victor Davis Hanson writes at National Review Online (www.national@review.com).
“The deliberate McCain is like a Sonny Liston or George Foreman trying to cut the ring in half and force his lighter-footed opponent onto the ropes. For McCain, this comes in the form of numerous proposed town-hall debates, where he hopes that face-to-face questions and answers will fall on his less-seasoned opponent like sudden haymakers,” Mr. Hanson said.
“In turn, Obama is like Ali; his style is to keep moving — and stay out of reach of his opponent. Obama does this through rhetorically masterful addresses to large, adoring crowds. He knows that the more McCain is forced to spar at a distance via set speeches in front of a teleprompter, the more he wears down the elder senator, who appears outclassed on the evening news.”
Overconfidence
“Sen. Barack Obama has been the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for a little more than three weeks. To see the way his campaign handles itself, though, one might conclude he’d wrapped up the contest months ago,” Reed Galen writes at www.realclear@politics.com.
“While success and victory breed confidence; they also can be fertile ground for hubris and arrogance. The Obama camp has shifted into front-runner mode, with good reason, but that status is fraught with danger,” said Mr. Galen, who was Mr. McCain’s deputy campaign manager until July of last year.
“The Obama campaign noted this week that it is putting resources into 14 states that President George Bush won in 2004. The staff readily admitted that they have no realistic hope of winning the states (Texas comes to mind) and claim they aren’t attempting to get the McCain campaign to shore up support. Therefore, wouldn’t that money, (surely to run into the millions) be better spent in actual target states?
“This effort belies a budgetary insouciance that should be troubling to Obama’s financial supporters. Whether or not they want to believe it, money in politics is a finite commodity — spending it on fool-hardy items simply to demonstrate ’dominance’ is wasteful and a slight reflection on how a President Obama may see the country’s budget as well.
“Can you say, ’Hillary Clinton?’ ”
Money race
“On the money front, how do Sens. Obama and McCain stack up? No contest, it seems. Since the campaign began, Mr. Obama has raised a staggering $295-plus million, versus Mr. McCain’s almost $122 million. But that’s misleading,” Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal.
“Mr. Obama spent a lot to win the nomination. So how much cash did he and his rival have when the general election effectively began in June? As of May 31, Mr. Obama had $43.1 million on hand while Mr. McCain had $31.6 million — a significant but not overwhelming advantage,” said Mr. Rove, who was George Bush’s top political strategist.
“There is also the cash raised by the Republican and Democratic National Committees. Each candidate depends on the party committees for certain expenditures — registration, voter identification and get-out-the-vote drives, materials distributed by volunteers, even some advertising. Here, the Republicans had $53.5 million on hand on May 31, versus the Democrats’ paltry $4 million. Thus Mr. McCain and the RNC have $38 million more than Mr. Obama and the DNC.”
’Meet’ Costas
“As the NBC peacock spreads its wings even further to search for a new ’Meet the Press’ host to replace the late Tim Russert, the name of Olympics host and storied sportscaster Bob Costas has surfaced,” Paul Bedard writes in the Washington Whispers column at www.usnews.com.
“TV executives, noting his steady and unbiased presentation of sports and news when he fills in for Larry King on CNN, say that he’s got just the right temperament and approach for the Sunday newsmaker show. We are hearing this directly from somebody who knew Russert well and held top jobs in network TV news. Asked by our Liz Halloran whom he’d recommend to replace Russert, the exec said that he ’wouldn’t think twice — Bob Costas. He’d be terrific, spectacular.’
“It’s not a stretch to see Costas in the chair. When he first sat in King’s chair, for example, there was lots of talk that CNN was grooming him to be King’s successor. Meanwhile, other TV execs still say that White House correspondent David Gregory has the inside track to anchor the show that Tom Brokaw is babysitting until after the election.”
Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.
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