The Republican National Convention wrapped up last night bringing an end to two weeks of non-stop political coverage. John McCain’s speech was just as I expected: lots of compelling biography, little substance, no theme. I am still very surprised that he failed to put forth some new ideas about the economy, especially when new numbers released today show that the economy shed 84,000 jobs and that unemployment grew to 6.1%.
To me, that’s the strangest decision made by either party, although the set up at the Republican National Convention, particularly the backdrops, was down right awful. Joe Scarbrough of “Morning Joe” said today, “I’m just not sure how compelling it was to swing voters.” Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson had harsh criticism for the McCain speech.
Arkansans had a good time in Minnesota and return enthusastic. It hard to see how they would be disappointed. Obama appears to be leaving Arkansas to the Republicans, although I’ve advocated here that it’s a mistake.
Now we can take a real look at the electoral map and focus on the states that will determine this election. Will the McCain-Palin ticket be able to compete in Michigan and Pennsylvania? Can the Obama-Biden ticket maintain its lead the red states of Virginia, Ohio, Florida, North Dakota, Colorado and Nevada? Lawrence O’Donnell and John Heilmann of New York magazine both gave the advantage to Obama-Biden. Agreed. It’s a lot harder for McCain-Palin to find a path to 270. McCain campaign manager agrees, “We actually have to go find votes because right now if the election were held today we probably don’t have as many votes as Barack Obama,” he said to Dan Balz of the Washington Post.
New polls like this have to be troubling for Repulicans as well. 50% of those asked say Sarah Palin does not have the experience to be president. When asked about Joe Biden, 66% said yes, 21% say no.