McCain Talks Economy as Women Break for Obama

Attack ads worked in 2004. That's not where we're at: Frum

(NEWSER) - David Frum plans to vote for John McCain, but with the economy in ruin, anyone who thinks the GOP can win “by banging on about William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright is...to put it mildly...severely under-estimating the electoral importance of pocketbook issues.” These desperate attacks “are sending a powerful, inadvertent message,” he writes in the National Review, “that we lack a positive agenda of our own.” More»

Conservatives should fear self-righteous loose cannon

(NEWSER) - The economic crisis has one presidential candidate acting like a “flustered rookie,” writes George F. Will of the Washington Post, but despite his limited resume, “It is not Barack Obama.” McCain’s response has been incoherent, including a Queen of Hearts-esque call for SEC Chairman Chris Cox’s head. That ridiculous proclamation showed how McCain would govern; in his world, you’re either with him or “corrupt.” More»

He's seen as weak on pocketbook woes, now top priority with voters

(NEWSER) - Americans are so worried about the economy they’re returning to a pre-9/11 mindset in which pocketbook issues trump national security—and that doesn’t bode well for John McCain, Politico reports. His predicament is beginning to look oddly like the reelection campaigns of George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter: Some 71% of voters disapprove of Bush’s economic policies, and 60% believe McCain will continue them. More»

Campaign aims to do the opposite of McCain

(NEWSER) - Team Romney’s rule of thumb: Do the opposite of everything John McCain did in 2008, or so reports Politico in a look at the campaign's strategy. The approach applies broadly, say advisers—focus hugely on the economy, fully engage in fundraising, integrate early with the Republican National Committee—but comes most into play in the search for a VP. The campaign doesn’t want to end up with its own version of Sarah Palin, so it is going to great lengths to avoid anyone who could be seen as unprepared. The goal, according to one official: Go with an "incredibly boring white guy." More»

And Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin is still pretty scary: reactions

(NEWSER) - If you thought Julianne Moore's Sarah Palin was terrifying in the first Game Change teaser , wait until you see her in the full trailer, where she utters lines such as, "We have to win this thing. I so don’t want to go back to Alaska." Watch below, then read on for some reactions:

• This will clearly be "a Frankenstein-esque story about McCain’s staffers coming to regret the choice they made in bringing a little-known governor into the limelight," writes Jon Bershad at Mediaite . "The full trailer ... gives us even more famous actors getting their turn to stare in horror at the 'monster' they’ve created."