If September 26th were tomorrow it wouldn’t be soon enough for John McCain. Unfortunately, he’ll endure eight more weeks in his earned media “dead zone” before the first of three presidential debates scheduled for September 26, October 7th and October 15th.

But for now, while overshadowed by mainstream media adulation of “acting president” Barack Obama, the McCain camp will have to buy its media exposure. At the risk of increasing the “burn rate” of his campaign war chest, McCain has fielded some excellent ads asking why Obama slighted the troops and comparing Obama to Britney Spears and friends. The ads are hard hitting and on target. At the same time McCain should pray that Ego-Obama breaks out with a full blown case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder—entirely possible.

Looking ahead, the Commission on Presidential Debates made changes to the debate structure that, unwittingly, left a format tailor-fit McCain’s style of campaigning. For the first and third debates, the commission is dumping the traditional podium for having the candidates seated at a table with a single moderator who will introduce issues for comment by the candidates. The commission made the change in order to lessen the importance of style (Obama’s strong suit) “with a view toward increasing the educational value” of the debates (McCain’s forte).

The second debate at Belmont University in Nashville is a town hall meeting which will include any issues raised by members of that audience. In addition, the commission intends to exhibit some of the Internet savvy of the YouTube debates—hopefully without the weirdness. McCain should out perform Obama in this format as he has refined the town hall meeting to an art form, not to mention the fact that Obama apparently loathes the format—maybe it’s an aversion to dealing with mere mortals?

The subjects of the debates were announced in November of last year. The first presidential debate will focus on domestic policy, traditionally a bad subject for Republicans; however, if McCain can effectively focus the debate on oil prices and Obama’s adherence to the “don’t drill” Democratic party line, McCain could draw blood in that first round. Should Congress adjourn for the summer vacation without a bill on domestic oil drilling it will play right into McCain’s hand. Of course, McCain needs to get his mind right on taxes and Social Security, etc.

After McCain has his way with Obama in the town hall meeting, the final debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, will focus on foreign policy, a topic that Obama now claims to master—ha!

All in all, the presidential debates will be the great equalizer for Ego-Bama. He will think about it a lot as he walks the beach on vacation in Hawaii.