Hope for McCain?

After first traveling to Liberty University over fall break, and then getting distracted by my senior thesis that is due in less than a week, I have unintentionally forgotten about blogging.

It isn't hard to see in the "liberal" news media that the McCain/Palin campaign is losing. There have been many recent news articles and polls suggesting that the election is basically over regardless of Obama leaving the campaign trail to visit his grandmother today. But is there hope in sight? The NY Times released an article yesterday that compared McCain's position to the position of Vice President Gore one week before the 2000 election. As many will recall, that race ended a very close one.

Regardless of this comparison, they point out that as November 4th grows closer, it will become even harder for McCain to close the gap and pull ahead. Many of the McCain supporters have thrown in the towel and decided that for 2008, this election is over. But for those optimists (and I am one of them) what objects are being watched? It is the states, issues, polls, and turnouts.

So to sum it up, here is what has to happen. In addition to the states that considered to be "red," McCain must hold on to and win Indiana, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. This will put him at 260 of the 270 votes to win. Then through a combination of other smaller states such as: Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire and New Mexico, he could pull ahead. But it won't be an easy task to get all of those states in such a short period of time.

Another issue is the Biden factor, which many have predicted would show up during the race at some point or another. Recently he has made the remark that if Obama were to win the election, his presidency would be tested within the first month. I think one of the key factors here is that the Obama campaign has done nothing to rebut this critical remark. And with Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsing Barack Obama, race once again rises to the forefront, which makes you wonder just how big of an issue race will be inside the ballot box on November 4th.

The final issue, the NY Times states that the Obama Campaign is not a bit worried about the turnout. But should they be? The McCain campaign has been studying just how hard it is for a first-time voter to go from registering to actually going to the polls on election day. This year, a great majority of voters say that they will vote for Obama. You can bet that the McCain/Palin ticket is hoping that it is just as hard for them as their studies predict, especially in areas where there are hours of long waiting just to vote.

Accessed October 24 at 3:30pm