Despite having run fiercely as the champion of the people, the people found it hard to accept a champion who had a $400 haircut. I mean, really, $400? He never really caught on after throwing everything into Iowa. Heck, the $400 haircut made it possible for Hillary Clinton to siphon votes from what should have been the core constituency of John Edwards. It's hard to relate to that, just like it's hard relating to someone who can't remember how many homes he owns. While John McCain doesn't have enough hair to warrant such a fine cut, his $500 shoes and eight or more homes is tough to understand to the Average Joe(and a lot more than just him). The fact that he forgot how many homes he has, that he couldn't count them in his head on the spot, is like John Edwards' $400 haircut on crack.
The defense from the McCain campaign of those homes being owned by Cindy McCain is something else most Americans can't relate to; most Americans don't know an heiress(except for Paris Hilton from the T.V., oh the irony), and many(especially men) don't relate to the idea of the wife controlling the coffers(Think John Kerry, divorced only to remarry rich. Sound familiar?).
The second defense, the "POW Card", cheapens the value of that status. John McCain runs the real risk of further alienating himself from the majority of voters by appearing too dependent on his experience(which ought not to be demeaned) as an excuse for a fatal mistake that has nothing to do with John McCain's heroic service or character. The "POW Card" was similarly raised by Nicole Wallace of Camp McCain after Andrea Mitchell mentioned how some in the Obama campaign thought that John McCain wasn't in the infamous cone of silence during the Saddleback Faith Forum(which he wasn't), calling it outrageous that a former POW's honesty and integrity would be questioned.( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... )
The counter-assault came two-fold, one in the form of Rezko and the other in the form of Ayers. In regards to Rezko, it's old news that Obama has been vindicated upon. There are no real legs to this story, and it depletes the McCain campaign's ammunition. As for Ayers, it's much the same. There's nothing really to report. That conservative 527 may have tried to attack Obama over Ayers, but heck, not even Fox News is willing to run it, and some experts think the ad is outright illegal.
The reality of the matter is simple; this is worse than 1992, George H.W. Bush in the supermarket, marveling at the scanners like it were something out of Star Trek. This is worse than Barbara Bush, commenting in 2005 about how the refugees forced from their homes by Hurricane Katrina were, in many cases, in better living conditions now than they had been before Katrina hit New Orleans. This is worse than John Edwards' $400 haircut. This is McCain looking way out of touch on economics while Obama is taking a very direct and populist path, and worse than that, it makes McCain simply look too old.
The Obama campaign is currently acting just as they should be. They have pounced at this on the national level with a hard-hitting ad and on the ground( http://thepage.time.com/... ). They have upper-cut McCain just as he was proudly lifting his chin after successfully taking ownership of the word "drill" and delivering an impressive performance at Saddleback. People will be remarking on this with humor. It'll be the stuff of water-cooler conversation. Why? Because it's so ridiculous. How do you not know how many homes you own? The crazed reaction from Camp McCain is a clear indicator of what this misstatement was; a potential campaign killer.
Let me close with this; if you like what you've seen this past week from Barack Obama, then donate to help get the message out. This can be our year.