In a few hours Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama will conduct their second round of debates from the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, TN. While it's a town hall format and McCain's favorite debate format, the stakes couldn't be higher on the heels of a week in which the Dow dropped below 10,000 for the first time in four years and Sen. Obama starting to build an eight point overall national lead.
Most ominous to the McPalin campaign in addition to the lead that Obama's built up in the critical battleground states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania is that some of the GOP 'Solid South' is starting to slip. Virginia and North Carolina are beginning to lean to Obama in addition to Florida.
Other states that Bush took in 2004 such as Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado, Indiana and Nevada are either leaning Obama's way or are uncomfortably close
McCain's campaign is reeling thanks to his party's mismanagement of the economy, his attempt to rebrand himself and his intellectually challenged running mate as 'mavericks' has failed, and hot on the heels of his pullout in Michigan he's now resorting to a 'ramp up the negative attacks' strategy.
And every time the worst president in US history goes on TV, it helps Democrats everywhere.
While the trends are looking good for Team Obama, we still have four agonizing weeks to go. They also realize that another solid performance in this debate and the next one at Hofstra University on October 15 could set the stage for a Democratic landslide.
While I'll be stuck at work for this one, I will get an opportunity to watch the replay later.
