ClobberBlog | Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity

I can’t speak for everyone else, but the movement in the polls for the last two weeks has left me feeling a little like this.

I expected McCain’s bounce to disappear and the polls to tighten up again, but they’ve been all over the map. There’s consensus that the ball is now in Obama’s court, bouncing between a 4 and 9 point lead. At one point Zogby poked through with a 2-point lead for McCain, but I know better than to look to Zogby for comfort. Some conservatives are murmuring about the Bradley Effect. I’m not. It may come into play, but I think it would be unwise to count on an untested factor like the Bradley Effect for salvation from Obama.

All is not lost though. There’s still over 5 weeks left in this election and a lot can change in five weeks. What does need to happen:

1) Palin has to do great at the debate tonight. If she comes off looking like she did in the Katie Couric interview, nothing short of the “whitey” tape being real* could save us from the nation electing Obama.

2) Palin needs to be doing more interviews with the media, and she needs to do well on them. Yes, I know they’re thirsty for her blood. Yes, I know they won’t play fair. Yes, I can respect the argument that their rabid anti-Palinism has disqualified them from the privilege of interviewing her. But the American people aren’t the media, and they deserve to see her. They aren’t going to fall in love with her based on stump speeches and right-wing talk radio clips, she has simply got to get out there and show herself. If she can’t do that, then the people who have argued that she wasn’t ready for the job were right all along.

3) McCain has got to hit back hard on Obama’s ties to our economic crisis. See the viral YouTube video “Burning Down the House” which the Democrats at Warner Music were desperate to have pulled. See Karl Rove’s point on Obama’s friends in the House of Representatives voting against the bailout. There’s blood to be drawn there and McCain needs to draw it. He has to stop being such a gentleman about these things.

I believe it will take a lot for McCain to turn the tide again and win this election. I don’t believe it’s impossible—yet.

*Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form believe the Michelle Obama “whitey” tape is real, I’m merely using the myth rhetorically.