Lynch mob vs the polls

Having nothing else to campaign on, the politically bankrupt McCain and Palin have resorted to character smears and, worse, whipping their rally crowds up into a frenzy of hate. At a recent rally, after Palin had questioned Obama's patriotism by distorting his remark about Afghanistan, a man in the crowd yelled out "treason."

It's not much of a stretch to hear echoes of "lynch him" echoing in the background of our minds. It not only tries to smear him as un-American and dangerous, but it also injects racial hatred into a fiery mix of crowd mentality.

That is a very dangerous place to be going, and the McPalin campaign should be strongly condemned for doing it.

Fortunately, it isn't working. Obama's polls continue to climb. According to FiveThirtyEight.com he is now leading in EVERY battleground state, with 345.4 to 192.6 !!! MO, IN, and NC are tilting; FL, OH, and NV are leaningl and all the rest look pretty strong if not yet quite in the safe column.

So what will McCain do tonight? It reminds me of a boxing match, where fighting words are tossed out to the press ahead of time, each trying to rev up the expectations for a good match. I'm not so sure that's what will happen. McCain likes to surprise, to keep people off balance. If he goes on a savage attack, as some are predicting ("take the gloves off tonight"), that may backfire and he'll be seen as angry and unsteady. He may pivot, once again, and try to woo the people with his wonderfulness, instead of tearing down Obama.

The stakes are much higher for McCain than for Obama. This is his last chance to turn it around. As long as Obama doesn't make some major gaffe, he won't be hurt, even if McCain helps himself a bit. But I don't see how he can do that unless he climbs back up out of the gutter.

I'm confident in Obama's ability to handle whatever comes. My prediction is that he'll be forceful, try to keep it on the issues, but call McCain's hand on smear tactics and distortions.

We'll know soon.

Ralph