John McCain And Mike Nolan Both "Running Out Of Real Estate"

I think I've heard almost every possible football reference in this campaign. John McCain is throwing hail marys. It's fourth and long for McCain. Obama is at the goal line. McCain kicked a field goal. There is only one footballism that seems to apply now. Sometimes when a running back runs to the left or right, and they are trying to get around the defense to get going straight ahead, they "run out of real estate" when they get to the sidelines before they can turn the corner. This is McCain's problem right now. In past elections, when the Republican brand wasn't so toxic, they could go right at the Democrats, right up the middle, and have as good a chance of making the yards that they need as not making them. This time, McCain is being forced to do an end around. All Democrats have to do is keep containment so he has to stick as close to the regular Republican message as possible, or just string him along toward the sidelines and out of bounds after he goes negative. Either way, he looks more and more like Bush and the conservative movement that has brought us the last eight years, and without an October surprise, it's going to be nearly impossible for him. It's too bad for McCain that his campaign has been so horrible, because I used to think McCain had some honor before the right wing of his own party boxed him into a nearly unwinnable position.

The election is now 14 days away. All of the debates are over. Obama and Biden are four for four on winning the debates according to all polls, and they are up about four to eight points in the polls, depending on which poll you like. Obama is winning comfortably in all of the states Kerry won, plus Iowa and New Mexico which Gore won, and Virginia and Colorado that Bush won both times. If those other states don't change, McCain can't lose either VA or CO, or he loses. Oh, did I mention that Obama is also ahead in Bush states FL, OH, NV, and MO, and probably tied now in IN, and McCain can't afford to lose a single one of those either? It's not over. 14 days is a long time in politics, but I am no longer going to use the word "eternity". Better dig deeper in your barrel of slime, Johnny.



Oh, and in completely unrelated news, the coach of my favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, just fired their head coach, Mike Nolan. I guess it was to be expected. When you go 18-37, not even winning a third of your games, it's hard to justify. He was hampered by poor talent for some of that time, but right now aside from the major exception of the quarterback and possibly wide receiver positions, I don't think they have any huge problems with talent. I guess we'll see what happens.