If the economic news continues to dominate and Iraq and Afghanistan stay quiet he could be sunk but...
It would take something drastic on the war or national security fronts to take the eye off the economy at this point in time, and I mean drastic in the truest sense of the word. Looking at the electoral situation he
needs to win Florida and Ohio, two states that are being pounded by the ill effects of this current situation. The suburban areas of Colorado in the corridor between Colorado Springs and Fort Collins are also being hit pretty hard, those are the voters John McCain needs to keep Colorado red.
I think he'll probably hang on to Missouri and Indiana, no telling on Virginia, but he's simply got to change the economic trajectory of his campaign in Florida and Ohio or he's toast. How does he do that? Well for starters he can stop with the gimmicks such as suspending his campaign, playing on sentiments of the day (literally, that day) and come out with a detailed economic plan. On his website he is still calling for a summer gas tax holiday as part of his relief plan, really it's a joke.
Given the confidence Palin displayed last night, he might try to
reignite the culture war in a big way as well in an attempt to stir up values voters. I thought that was his plan all along with the Palin pick, but every time she has been on the TV trying to light the kindling on same sex marriage, abortion, gun rights, etc. she's had a meltdown that overshadowed everything else.