http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14951 Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he can “guarantee” a win on Nov. 4 in a squeaker victory that won’t be clear until late that night. McCain spoke amid signs of a tightening race, and reports of renewed determination among his staff, which is badly outgunned in both money and manpower. “I guarantee you that two weeks from now, you will see this has been a very close race, and I believe that I'm going to win it,” McCain told interim "Meet" moderator Tom Brokaw. “We're going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We're going to win it, and it's going to be tight, and we're going to be up late.” McCain was down just 5 points in the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Sunday, with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) leading by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely voters in the daily tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points. Reuters reported that Obama's lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday. Pollster John Zogby said: "Things are trending back for McCain. His numbers are rising and Obama's are dropping on a daily basis. There seems to be a direct correlation between this and McCain talking about the economy." The Washington Post reported Sunday: "nside the McCain campaign the mood remains one of gritty resolve. Top aides know they are behind, but they hold out hope and, like their candidate, stubbornly refuse to give up." McCain told Brokaw in Waterloo, Iowa, that he feels "like Knute Rockne ... go out there and get one for the Gipper." “We are very competitive in battleground states," McCain said. "Obviously, I choose to trust my senses as well as polls. The enthusiasm at almost all of our [events] is at a higher level than I've ever seen, and I've been in a lot of presidential campaigns, usually as the warm-up act. ... And I see intensity out there, and I see passion. So we're very competitive.” McCain added: “We're going to have to just get out our vote, work hard over the next nine days, and make sure that people know that there'll be a better future. People are very worried now — very, very worried, and have every reason to be. I think it's all about who can assure a better future.” On the endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, McCain said: "I'm disappointed in Gen. Powell, but I'm very, very happy to know that [I'm endorsed by] five former secretaries of states who I admire enormously.” McCain defended Republican National Committee clothing purchases on behalf of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Politico revealed during the past week that the RNC spent $150,000 on designer outfits at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue for the vice presidential nominee and members of her family. "She lives a frugal life,” he said. “She and her family are not wealthy. She and her family were thrust into this and there was some — and some third of that money is given back. The rest will be donated to charity. ... She is a role model to millions and millions and millions of Americans." McCain appeared in a gracious mood, saying to Brokaw at the end: "I appreciate your many years of informing the American people. You've come a long way from South Dakota, but you have never forgotten where you come from.”
wow......I have thought that this race is alot closer than alot of the leftwing media is reporting..... but I wouldn't guarantee a victory.
I don't see it. Regardless of the national poll numbers (where Zogby is somewhat of an oddity), if McCain can't flip Pennsylvania (and I don't think he can) then he as to win Florida, N. Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, and Nevada to win. That's quite a task. On semi related note, if you follow fivethirtyeight.com then you know that the owner of the site is critical of the Zogby poll because it assumes the same Democrat/Republican turnout ratio as in 2004 when we know that the country has shifted more democratic to a certain degree since then. Most other polls have it at 8-9 points for Obama.
It's over. Obama is the next President. The question left is how much McCain will embarrass himself over the next few weeks. Scratch that. Next few months as I expect a lot of sour grapes from the McCain camp for months to come.
Actually good news for Obama. This may be what was needed to eliminate the complacency of voters figuring it was a foregone conclusion and not voting.
I'm not surprised that McCain is saying this as what else is he supposed to say publically. "I'm going to lose.."? I'm still standing by my prediction that this election will be close and that Newsweek article I posted does present a scenario regarding how McCain might win.
McCain will be the forgotten man shortly after the election. He will be completely irrelevant, won't have influence on anyone and nobody will care about his "sour grapes" if he has them. The GOP will forget about him just as fast as the Dems. So basically he has 8 days left to embarrass himself before the GOP wrings their hands and poops on him for running such a sorry campaign.
It will be interesting to see such a backlash, if it comes to that. But will their argument be that he was too negative, or not negative enough?
The whole message this weekend was that Obama was being presumptuous about his victory. Now, with one little statement, he torpedoes his own talking point. The McCain campaign has been horribly run.
It is. But that's one of those throw-away statements that all politicians make to rally their base. It's different from a guarantee. The only thing he actually guaranteed is it will be "very, very close". The guarantee stopped as soon as he said "I believe". And guaranteeing a race will be "close" is basically meaningless. Who defines what "close" is? No one will call him on that if he loses by a sizable margin. This is much ado about nothing.
Both views will be argued. People like Palin, the Religious Right, the right-wing radio hosts, etc will argue McCain didn't try hard enough because he didn't push the Ayers issue long enough, didn't even bring up Jeremiah Wright at all (or until it was too late), etc, etc. This wing of the party has no conscience about saying any and everything that would help them win. They would scorch the entire country, divide it in half and worry about picking up the pieces later. In the other corner, some in the GOP like Charlie Crist, Colin Powell and others have criticized McCain for living off negative campaigning (like the flaming robocalls). They have also ripped him for selecting Sarah Palin because it basically blew his chance of winning. Their view is McCain never made the case of why he was the right candidate to lead the country vs. using scare tactics to downgrade Obama. The two sides will debate after the election and Sarah Palin will be in the middle of it. McCain? Neither side will give him the time of day because he tried to please everybody and ended up ticking off everyone instead. I predict McCain will do everything he can to restore his former standing. It will be legacy-building time for him. He will be a good loser, graciously praise Obama and try to write a nice final chapter to his political career. I can't imagine him maintaining the bitter and angry persona for his final two years in the Senate.
