MCCAIN'S HOBSON'S CHOICE
McCain has squirreled away enough funds to pay for a raft of television ads in battleground states over the final days. But, the decision to finance a final advertising push is forcing him to curtail spending on Election Day ground forces. The vaunted, 72-hour plan that Too used to mobilize voters in 2000 and 2004 has been scaled back for McCain who is spending half as much as Obama on staffing and has opened far fewer field offices.
(WASHINGTON POST, suggested by fivethirtyeight.com)

DUMB AND PROUD OF IT
Perhaps the most potent reason why intellectuals struggle in elections is that intellectualism has been equated with subversion. The brief flirtation of some thinkers with communism a long time ago has been used to create an impression in the public mind that all intellectuals are communists. Almost every day, men like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly rage against the "liberal elites" destroying America.
(ALTERNET)

CQ Politics | Sorting Out the Truth on McCain’s “Socialism” Allegations

TRICK OR TREAT?
Just in time for Halloween, the campaign's biggest scare tactic is the Socialist Boogeyman. Progressive taxes do indeed spread the wealth a bit. But they do so much more modestly than government owning the means of production. Few serious policy makers — including McCain — consider progressive taxation socialist. In fact, on the October 26, 2008 edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, McCain stood by a comment he made in 2000 that “there’s nothing wrong with paying somewhat more” in taxes when you “reach a certain level of comfort.”
(CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY)

IS THIS ON!
When the GOP nominated John McCain as their candidate many hoped that it meant that the middle and "left" of the party, recognizing not only the mood of the country but that their message was way off base, was wresting control from the on board crazies. When this thing is over there will no doubt be all sorts of things written about how the McCain campaign got kidnapped by the Bush people and turned him into some sort of political Frankenstein, a monster of many parts. The conflicts probably also explain the manifestation of this now-not-so-latent tension between these party tendencies as evidenced by the internal bickering in the McCain campaign and the public breaking of ranks by its politicians and pundits. It might also account for the flareups between Palin and the McCain staffs about her being "off message". But, lest we make the mistake of giving these guys too much due, look at this enlarged sample of self-identified Republicans and independents who identify with Republicans. When asked the question, “who is to blame for John McCain’s possible defeat?” Republicans believe McCain will have lost because of a hostile mainstream media, economic events beyond their control and Democrats having more money and resources. Few have begun to examine the bigger issues. Their views of the current campaign, the mood of the country, the state of the economy and the future of their party and country suggest a party very much out of touch.
(DEMOCRACY CORPS)