A real media magnet is coming. According to Talking Points Memo, "For the first time, both Clintons will campaign together for the Obama-Biden ticket. Hillary and Bill will be campaigning alongside Joe Biden this Sunday at an event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to Obama Pennsylvania spokesperson Sean Smith."
The fuller story is available
here. It goes on to say, "The Clintons will hammer away at economic themes in their speeches at the Sunday rally, and they are likely to play up the roots in the Scranton area that both Hillary and Biden share. Further details will be announced later in the week."
The importance of this joint appearance goes beyond having a nice endorsement appearance by the two Clintons. It's potentially huge. With Obama's current lead, McCain needs a lengthy, Wright-esque game-changing story to start tugging Obama down in the polls. To inoculate himself from any such slide, Obama needs whatever he can find to keep Ayers, Rezko and the like off the front pages of newspapers. A couple of McCain or Palin gaffes and a couple of days of a Troopergate hiccoughs will help, but the surefire winner will be a triple threat appearance by Hillary, Bill and Joe.
How can the media resist? "What did Bill say? Did he seem sincere? Did Hillary top him? How did the crowd react? How did Bill and Hillary look together? And who was that tall guy with them?"
In baseball, the highest accolade for a starting pitcher is to be given the term "stopper". He's the pitcher who -- when the team finds itself in a losing streak -- can be counted on to step up and shut down the opponent's hitters so as to give his team every possible opportunity to win the game. Similarly, regardless of what McCain may succeed in doing to get Obama on the defensive for the remainder of the week, Bill and Hillary's appearance will stop that news cycle as surely as the Palin announcement on August 29th cut short (even if only temporarily) Obama's convention bounce.