FALLING MARKETS=OBAMA, STABLE=McCAIN:

McCain Ready for A Change Of Subject: Credit Crisis Has Given Obama a Distinct Edge (Dan Balz and Shailagh Murray, 9/28/08, Washington Post)

In the two weeks that the Wall Street financial crisis has dominated the political debate, the presidential race has shifted from what had been essentially a dead heat to one in which Sen. Barack Obama has opened up a narrow but perceptible advantage nationally, as well as in a number of battleground states.

The burden now falls on Sen. John McCain to reverse the effects of the focus on the economy, and to keep the contest close enough so that a dominant debate performance, a gaffe by Obama or some outside event can shift the momentum back to him.

Although Friday's debate in Oxford, Miss., produced no outright winner, strategists in both parties said the coming weeks, which will include three more debates -- two between McCain and Obama and the third between vice presidential candidates Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. -- could be decisive in determining whether the election remains on a trajectory favorable to Obama or shifts back toward too-close-to-call status.

McCain advisers are well aware that the past two weeks have brought a shift in the race, but they say that between now and Election Day, there is plenty of time for the fortunes of the two candidates to change again.

While they ought not get overmuch credit for doing the right thing by their country, the Democrats in Congress are to be commended for passing a financial bailout that can only hurt them politically.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 28, 2008 7:35 AM