So the convention is over, and John McCain received his bounce, moving ahead of Barrack Obama in the Gallup Tracking poll. Bounces are referred to as such for a particular reason: they tend to be fleeting. Will this even be discussed in a week's time? And so far, it appears that neither McCain's (nor Obama's) bounce is atypical.

Regardless, with Obama generally perceived to have been the slim frontrunner since June, John McCain leading in any poll is difficult to swallow, especially with a history of imploding democratic campaigns.

Of all the surrogates on TV Barbara Boxer and James Carville were the only ones that helped Obama.  Gibbs and Kaine were o.k.

However, we know the media is really itching to go after McCain's temperament.  When Barbara Boxer brought it up, Blitzer really wanted to follow up on it.

Obama needs to go on the offensive and I think this is an issue that won't necessarily win the election but it could knock McCain off message for a while.

Obama needs to focus more on winning news cycles.

Mccain has many quotes about "more wars", 100 years in Iraq. Even Buchanan says McCain means war with Iran

use this quote from Thad Cochran

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

Cochran said his choice was prompted partly by his fear of how McCain might behave in the Oval Office. "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran said about McCain by phone. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." McCain's run-ins with other Republican senators are legendary. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa said in an interview that he was so upset by a McCain tirade that he didn't speak to him for two years. Grassley, who said he will make no endorsement, nonetheless says McCain is the most qualified among the five GOP candidates to be president.

Common sense has nothing to do with education or the lack of it. If I may blow off some steam, we have, in our America, more than we need of intellectual, well-educated fools on every side of the spectrum.Please, let's not in any way shape or form, get started in identifying ourselves with them, especially not when our national well-being is at stake.

We live in a world that would do very well without the  so-called "common sense" opinions of the likes of James Dobson-Focus on the Family, Pat Robertsons, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and the rest. These people can  take pride in the sense that they, as the many infamous of history, have been able to mesmerize large numbers of followers.

How clever of John McCain to ally himself with the religious-right by picking Sarah Palin, someone who can truly present their extreme beliefs in a sabre-piercing but home-spun, folksy style of delivery. It has been proven that these clever Republican politicians know how to win elections but can't rule, except for their own base.

I,  like most of you are part of the ninety-five percent of Americans who represent, the middle, working class people of our great nation. All of us are going to suffer under another Republican administration. Let's get the message out across the land to reveal these people who are the merchants of status-quo. If we don't we'll be left with another four years with commmon sense eclipsed by hypocricy.

To distract myself from the inevitable pain that will be watching the Patriots beat the snot out of the Chiefs, I'm going to share some impressions on the ground of what is going on in Missouri and speculate as to why Obama is devoting resources to my state.

1. The McCaskill factor. She was with Obama early and strongly. She lost in 04 when she ran for governor and followed the D.C. establishment's plan for how to campaign in Missouri. And she lost to a total tool. When she ran for Senate in 06, she rejected the outsiders advice and spent an enormous amount of time and resources campaigning in out-state Missouri. She won by trimming Talent's margins in out-state. (The divide in MO is not urban vs. rural as much as KC/St.Louis/Columbia and "out-state," which represents the other half of the population and much of which manages to maintain certain "rural" attitudes despite being sizeable populations in cities full of colleges - see Springfield).

Sarah Palin claims to be pro-life. In this column, Walter Brasch shows that she isn't what she says she is.

The incumbent Repubican party running on change? Right!

OK Republicans don't get too excited about Palin just yet. It's too early to write off Barack Obama. There is no doubt in my mind that independent voters and Hillary Democrats will soon understand what this election is all about. It's about Republicans, John McCain and their relationship to the failed policies of George W. Bush. It's about the future of our country, and not an old Vietnam veteran who flew a plane into the ground. It's not about fighter pilots of the past. It's about the fight for America's future.

i read a pretty good OP ED in the Washington Post today by Charles Krauthammer. I Don't think I ever agreed with journalist Charles Krauthammer on much of anything. But I sure agree with much of his recent OP ED regarding Palin's Problem.

I'm in agreement with him when he writes, "Here were Republicans -- the party that controlled the White House for eight years and both houses of Congress for five -- wildly cheering the promise to take on Washington. I don't mean to be impolite, but who's controlled Washington this decade?  

Visit African American Political Pundit.com for the rest of the post.

http://africanamericanpoliticalpundit.co m/showDiary.do?diaryId=159

Inspired by this calitics analysis of races in California, here is an annotated list of the 7 Congressional races in Ohio in which Democrats appear to have a chance at taking seats currently held by Republicans.

For a politician that claims to be a forward-viewing "Country First" centrist-minded maverick bipartisan agent of change, the choice of Sarah Palin is curious.  Upon closer examination, Palin's views are reminiscent of right-wing radio talk show hosts and Fox News political pundits.  Her ideas are more aligned more with Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter than Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge.  Her record is that of a fundamentally religious conservative culture warrior hell bent on deconstructing FDR's New Deal.

I'm not questioning Sarah Palin, I just find it curious for John McCain to speak one way and act another.