As a fan and regular reader of BarbinMD's very useful series of entries on the candidates' schedules, I wondered to myself... who's been preparing, and who has not. Now, of course what we know from public schedules is only a fraction of their daily activities... there are meetings to attend, fundraisers to schmooze, meals to eat, and (in at least one candidate's case) naps.
With the difference in age between the two Presidential candidates - and unless Barack Obama suffers from some undisclosed sleep disorder - it's a good bet that "the hours in a day" for one candidate are not the same as for the other. I'd wager that 47-year-old Barack Obama wakes earlier and ends his day later than his 72-year-old opponent. And the schedules seem to bear that out...
Here are the top-of-ticket Candidate Schedules for the past week and a half (again, hat tips to BarbinMD). First, Obama:
OBAMA SCHEDULE
Tue 9/16 - Colorado School of Mines (CO) 9:30 AM MDT
Wed 9/17 - Elko (NV) City Park 9:30 AM PDT / Las Vega (NV) baseball stadium 5 PM PDT
Thu 9/18 - Espanola (NM) 10:30 AM MDT
Fri 9/19 - Coral Gables (FL) Univ. of Miami rally 11:45 AM EDT
Sat 9/20 - Daytona Beach (FL) rally at university 8:45 AM EDT / Jacksonville (FL) city park 2:30 PM EDT
Sun 9/21 - Charlotte (NC) downtown rally 1 PM EDT
Mon 9/22 - Green Bay (WI) rally at Resch Center Noon CDT
Tue 9/23 NO PUBLIC EVENTS scheduled
Wed 9/24 Dunedin (FL) rally at city park 1 PM EDT
Thu 9/25 - NO PUBLIC EVENTS scheduled. New York (NY) Spoke to Clinton Global Initiative. Flew into D.C. and tried to talk House Republicans off the ledge.
Fri 9/26 - Oxford (MS) Presidential Debate 8 PM EDT
Then, McCain:
McCAIN SCHEDULE
Tue 9/16 - Tampa (FL) Convention Center 12 Noon EDT / closed appearance at Tampa-area aviation hangar 4 PM EDT
Wed 9/17 - Grand Rapids (MI) town hall 7 PM CDT
Thu 9/18 - Cedar Rapids (IA) closed appearance at aviation hangar 11 AM CDT / Green Bay (WI) rally at Resch Center 6 PM CDT
Fri 9/19 - Blain (MN) closed appearance at aviation hangar 12 Noon CDT
Sat 9/20 - Annapolis (MD) 50th Reunion of his Naval Academy class / attending football game 3:30 PM EDT
Sun 9/21 - Baltimore (MD) National Guard Convention 3:30 PM EDT
Mon 9/22 - Media (PA) rally at county courthouse 3 PM EDT
Tue 9/23 - Strongville (OH) appearance - morning CDT / Freeland (MI) appearance at Dow-Corning plant 4 PM CDT
Wed 9/24 - NO PUBLIC EVENTS scheduled. "Suspended campaign." Canceled appearance on Letterman. Taped Interview with Katie Couric.
Thu 9/25 - NO PUBLIC EVENTS scheduled. New York (NY) Spoke to Clinton Global Initiative. Flew into D.C. and blew up negotiations.
Fri 9/26 - Okay, so that didn't go so well... Hmmm... Second thoughts about skipping the Debate? Likely Oxford (MS) Presidential Debate 8 PM EDT
So, what do we notice right off? McCain's earliest event has been 9/16's Noon (EDT) event at the Tampa Convention Center. Obama's earliest? The 8:45 AM (EDT) Daytona Beach rally on the 20th. And Obama has several other mid-morning events, as well. Subtract from any event's start-time several hours (for breakfast, shower, shave, meetings, Secret Service meet-ups and misc. details, etc.) Seems Grampy is a mid-morning riser.
At least where public appearances are concerned, Obama has kept his afternoons and evenings free these past 10 days. What's he been doing? Certainly meetings, fundraiser schmoozing, etc. occupied some of this time. But I'd wager that he's also been following a routine that gets him ready for the debate, whether in active practice/mock sessions, quiet study and contemplation, whatever.
McCain, on the other hand, gets going so late in the day that if it weren't for his afternoon appearances, he'd have no appearances at all. And a piece by Elisabeth Bumiller and Jeff Zeleny (not exactly icons of the Liberal Media Elite, those two) observed in a NY Times piece that...
Mr. McCain had not planned to devote large blocks of time to debate practice as did Mr. Obama, who was holing up with a tight circle of advisers at a hotel in Clearwater, Fla., on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to prepare. Mr. McCain had a preparatory session on Wednesday afternoon at the Morgan Library in Manhattan, but advisers said it had been interrupted by his decision, announced immediately afterward, to suspend his campaign.
So, McCain is in the middle of his only prep session on Wednesday, when it occurs to him that the nation's financial crisis requires his presence in D.C., that he must suspend his campaign, and maybe even cancel the Friday (tonight's) debate.
Yeah, right.
He's not ready, and he discovered that on Wednesday. And he had probably heard reports from the people working with Palin that her own debate-prep and press-conference-prep were even worse. Out of desperation, and in an effort to solve two problems with one maverick move, he threw the Hail Mary pass on Wednesday afternoon.
Panic. Despair. Flail.
Tonight oughta be good.