McCain: Another bad week?
Posted: Friday, July 18, 2008 9:18 AM by Domenico Montanaro
The DNC is releasing a memo arguing that McCain had a tough week, after his reversals on Afghanistan and gay adoption, as well as him incorrectly referring twice to “Czechoslovakia,” a nation that no longer exists. “Two weeks into the latest ‘relaunch’ of his campaign and it’s more of the same for John McCain: more of the same bad news, bad reviews and campaign chaos,” the memo reads. “While the elevation of Steve Schmidt was supposed to tighten McCain’s message and organization, McCain was under fire from all sides this week… With less than 110 days left until the election, is it time to start wondering how many more weeks like this McCain can afford?”
“McCain said Thursday that his proposal to suspend the gas tax for three months this summer may need to be extended longer if high gas prices continue to take a toll on the economy. ‘I think we ought to seriously look at whether we need to have it be longer or not depending on what the economy (does),’ McCain said, standing beside the Grand River. ‘I think we have to consider all options but the fact is we need a gas tax holiday. We need it, we need it, we need it very badly. The Americans that are hurt the most are low income Americans that are driving the oldest automobiles.’”
McCain has never said how he would replace the million that go from the gas tax to the roads infrastructure improvements, saying only it would come out of the general fund.
Per a new Pew analysis, McCain “has a smaller lead among white evangelical Protestants than Republican George W. Bush had at a similar point in the 2004 campaign, even though Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made few inroads into this key constituency… About six-in-ten (61%) white evangelicals favor McCain while 25% support Obama. McCain's 36-point advantage among this group is comparable to Bush's lead in 2000 but smaller than Bush's 43-point lead in 2004. Nonetheless, Obama has made no significant gains among this important constituency. The number of white evangelicals who say they would vote for Obama (25%) is about the same as the number who supported the Democratic presidential candidates in June 2004 (26%) and June 2000 (28%).”
Wow, how nervous are McCain folks about Ron Paul disruptions at the Nevada GOP state convention? They've cancelled the convo and will deal with the delegate issue via conference call.
