Bouncing Alone

Mark Blumenthal of Pollster.com makes a keen observation in his discussion of Sen. McCain’s post-convention bounce: “[W]e should remember that the Republican convention dominated the news on Friday and, to a lesser extent, continued to do so for much of the weekend.” He cautions against drawing conclusions too quickly.

My question is this: “Why did the Obama campaign let the Republican convention dominate the news all weekend?” Is this more rope-a-dope or just dope?

Obama could have taken some of the focus off of McPalin in any number of ways — a big endorsement, a major new policy proposal, a great photo-op, etc. Instead, we got nothing, and McPalin was left to bounce all alone all weekend long. It’s political malpractice.

But this morning, there’s some good news. The Obama campaign may be calling in the cavalry. This comes not a moment too soon. But I’m afraid that it may be about four days too late.

Cross-posted from Facebook