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McCain Seeking Rebound
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Published: October 14, 2008
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TAMPA - Sen. John McCain of Arizona, acknowledging that he's an underdog in the race for president, hopes to put together a more aggressive campaign in the final 22 days to make a comeback nationally and in Florida.
Florida McCain campaigners acknowledge that they have ground to make up, but they contend several factors are in their candidate's favor:
•In Florida, McCain will bring his ad spending into parity with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's in the final three weeks. Obama has been outspending him 3-1.
•There's new optimism in the ranks. "There's a sense that we bottomed out about last week," said McCain's state co-chairman, Brian Ballard. Realizing the campaign could be lost "has gotten folks focused and motivated."
•McCain has a history of coming from behind.
Last year in the primaries, McCain was written off, noted University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson.
"He was at the bottom of the pack and was carrying his own suitcases," Paulson said.
McCain, Ballard said, "is a stronger candidate coming from behind than as a frontrunner - his style is to finish strong."
McCain will also add a new line of attack, saying that a Republican president is needed in order to balance a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Voters will hear the words "Obama, Pelosi and Reid" frequently from McCain and his partisans - a reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
That argument, experts say, can appeal to voters, particularly independents, who mistrust single-party control.
Those are the reasons for optimism for McCain.
The reasons for pessimism, however, are strong.
Paulson compared McCain's situation to "a baseball team down by six runs in the bottom of the ninth. You've got to have a grand slam plus.
"A betting person," he added, "probably wouldn't bet on him at this point."
Slide In National Polls
Nationally, McCain has slid in polls to a position that he described Monday as about 6 points behind.
The RealClearPolitics Web site, which averages published polls, declares it more than 7 points.
In individual battleground states, including Florida, the numbers are also worrisome.
RealClearPolitics gives Obama an average lead in the Florida polls of 3.8 percentage points; while fivethirtyeight.com, which weights polls according to past accuracy, calls it 4.5 points.
Florida is the biggest of a handful of states that McCain must win to reach an Electoral College majority.
McCain will return this week, probably hitting Miami and Melbourne on Friday, campaign insiders said.
Obama Not Worried
However, Since last week, some national polls have indicated McCain may be narrowing the gap.
The Obama campaign said it's not worried.
"No amount of nasty, false, television ads is going to change the fact that McCain and the Republicans are offering four more years of the same failed policies," said spokeswoman Adora Andy.
McCain's biggest problem, even his partisans acknowledge, is that the economy has come to dominate the race, and voters appear to give Obama the edge on that issue.
"He's got to find a way to diminish Obama's advantage - either a different plan or a way to change the agenda to some other issue," Paulson said.
Even as he tries to turn the game around, however, McCain still seems to suffer from lack of coordination.
Policy Session Bashes Obama Plan
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a McCain confidant and frequent campaign surrogate, said Sunday that McCain would outline new economic proposals Monday.
Reporters were invited into a Monday afternoon conference call "to discuss McCain's economic plan."
But the call turned out to be about bashing Obama's economic proposals, and McCain made no announcement.
Senior adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said McCain "will sketch out a vision" on the economy, including some "new specific measures" today.
McCain strategists have been saying McCain, with less money than Obama, would hold back for a strong finish in the race.
Obama has outspent McCain on television advertising in Florida $2.2 million to $659,000 for the week that ended Oct. 4, for example.
"I've been assured we will be much closer to parity on TV buys in the last three weeks," Ballard said.
Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.
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