McCain Campaign Wonders Where It’s Safe to Hide Their Candidate

When John McCain had his snarling run-in with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register the other day, Markos wondered why the aging senator was "wasting time in Iowa, where he’s not even remotely competitive"?  Yesterday, he quoted former McCain adviser Mike Murphy to the same effect.

But really, what else is the McCain campaign going to do with him?  McCain spent the month of September touring the so-called battleground states… and those are the states where his poll numbers have deteriorated sharply.

Remember that from early on, Republican sources have indicated that McCain’s best hope of winning was to make the contest a referendum on Obama.  Everytime he shows up in person somewhere, though, he undercuts that hoped-for narrative… not to mention demonstrating the palpable lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy among the GOP rank and file.

This, in fact, is one of the many incentives McCain’s handlers had to suggest that he "suspend" his campaign before the first presidential debate — if nothing else, it would get the old guy off the trail.   It may also be why McCain’s current campaign schedule, according to his own website, shows a string of rallies featuring VP nominee Sarah Palin… but zero scheduled appearances for the guy at the top of the ticket (aside from the two upcoming televised debates).

Which seems to fit in with a larger pattern of the Republican side realizing there just isn’t a positive case to be made for their presidential candidate.

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2. At Pivotal Moment in Supreme Court History, Corporate Media Wonders if Sotomayor is “Racist,” “Activist”
3. Does Obama’s 2008 Campaign Have a Lesson for Saving Healthcare Reform?
4. McCain Rediscovers His Passion for Screwing Us with Bad Telecom Policy
5. McCain is a Clunker, Can I Trade Him in?