It's really hard to say exactly what the Republicans strategy is at this point. After playing up how important a decision the Vice-Presidential pick would be, they go with an untested wild card straight out of the wilderness. After playing up how important it is to have the candidates talk directly to the American people via town halls, they try and cancel the most important event to date in this election, the Presidential Debate.
Obama has certainly come into his own as a politician. It's much like the primaries, where the longer he spent somewhere, the better he did. He gets better daily, as McCain gets more and more desperate, Obama looks like the calm and collected man of the people that is needed for this point in our history. McCain's only hope is to catch some of the fire that Hillary Clinton found after it became too late to pull off the victory. McCain is desperatly grasping for that populist appeal, all the while Obama is sticking with the same strategy... put McCain away before his handlers have a chance to figure out how to win this thing.
Enter McCain's desperate tactics to keep this thing close until he can find a way to break through.
It's pretty clear to most people that Barack Obama is tailor made for this moment in our history. Not only is he an amazing politician, but he seems to catch every break possible.
Obama goes on a a foreign policy tour, and the Prime Minister of Iraq basically endorses his strategy for Iraq. McCain wants to offset all the good publicity Obama is getting by pushing his one policy difference that the majority of Americans actually support(for some reason), and get a photo-op on an oil rig. Not only does a storm come in where the photo-op is supposed to take place, but there is an oil spill in the region, forcing McCain to cancel the trip.
Obama has perfect weather for when he decides to hold his acceptance speech at a huge outdoor stadium, but a Hurricane swoops in for the kickoff of the Republican convention.
Obama picks a gaffe prone vice-presidential nominee, but McCain picks someone far more attention getting, who is currently under investigation for abuse of power, has a 17 year-old pregnant daughter, and hold views widely out of touch with mainstream America. Frankly, with the McCain trying their best to hide her away, and her few unscripted moments going horribly wrong(see Couric interview), she's starting to make George Bush look semi intelligent.
The choice of Palin, combined with the Republican convention, turn out to be a great initial boost for McCain. Shortly after there is a huge economic crisis, drastically shifting the debate, and pushing Obama back into the drivers seat of this election.
McCain's handlers realize McCain can't hold a candle to Obama when it comes to showing the American people who will be the better president. They are pulling out all the stops in making sure to keep this thing close. From forcefully trying to win daily news cycles, to resorting to completely desperate hail mary type plays, the McCain campaign is determined not to let this thing get down to the issues.
Mass distraction is the name of the game apparently, and McCain's campaign seems to be good at it. The only problem now is how much attention they have brought to the debates. This has pretty much been forced into being as much about economics as it is about foriegn policy. There is no way McCain is ready to show his expertise on our economy, or this crisis. They may have just put the nail in the coffin by unintentionally elevating these debates to overblown drama fest it has become.
Palin completely blew it with Katie Couric the other night, and McCain is really making people question his motives with his latest antics. If the debate tonight, and the VP debate next week go as most Obama supporters expect, this crazy election might just be over before it gets any more out of control.