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).