1. There is another factor to consider, besides what undecided voters will do. A lot of McCain's fall in the polls the last two weeks came from Republican voters moving to undecided. I think his performance will be helpful in getting those people back. That, in turn might allow get him close enough to compete in the final stretch, for yet another 50:50 election.

2. Relatedly, there has been a lot of talk about why Obama should be ahead by 10-15 points, and that racism may be holding him back. Rubbish. No Democrat has done that well in a two person race since Lyndon Johnson -- and he faced a badly fractured Republican opposition. If Obama could win by even 5, it would be the best two person race performance by a Democrat under Normal Political Conditions since FDR.

3. I agree McCain should be worried by the all the talk about undecided reaction in Obama's favor. Although, CNN said this morning that its snapshot poll was disproportionately composed of Democratic voters, and a true scientific poll would have revealed a tie. So, still too early to tell.

4. I disagree somewhat that a foreign policy debate should have been a home run for McCain, given his experience. Voters are mostly interested in policy, not trivia knowledge and the public still mostly opposes the Iraq War. Conversely, when we get to the economy debate, many voters still like the old time religion of tax cuts and less spending. I would not be surprised if that one becomes a draw, too.

5. I also disagree about the Reagen Effect of 1980 -- that Obama wins by showing up and not sucking. I have never understood the "expectations" game for debates. In 1980, Reagen faced two handicaps: (i) suspicion he was still a Goldwaterite who wanted to overturn the New Deal, or at least Medicare; and (ii) belief he was too unsophisticated to man the cockpit and fly the plane. His "there you go again" statement largely answered point (i), and Carter's absurd reliance on his daughter Amy helped bury point (ii), by showing himself to be more flaky than Reagen.

6. I know a lot of people are waiting to see some sort of demolition in Biden vs. Palin. I think Palin will be at least passable, and possibly quite good. Passable -- if she sticks to her talking points. Quite good, if she can relax and exude some charm. If so, the VP debate -- like all VP debates -- will mean little, and we'll move on to the next big fights. I just don't see how Biden and Palin can add much to the fight over substance (such as it is) between the top of the tickets.

It looks like they are finally going to unleash Sarah. She was in Philly the other night talking greater sense on Pakistan than her running mate. She is also going back for more time with Katie. That shows some spirit.

As far as Tina Fey is concerned, I don't mind the country bumpkin angle on Palin, but view the airhead slant as unfair. Then again, if I had to choose, I guess I would rather be an airhead than a cokehead -- the SNL cast has had a fair share of those. Sure, Palin is new to the "federal" scene. We'll see how she fares in a live debate.

And speaking of dumb, I am still waiting for the hilarious skit on Dan Rather's memogate sham. How could an entire news organization not discern the difference between computerized Times New Roman and the font size used by a dinosauric manual typewriter. Hello, McFly: anybody home? Talk about a harvest of shame.

So, I am looking forward to more manipulative, badly edited time with Sarah on the evening news. It beats the finest made-up moments of Joe Biden's career, any time.

I feel your pain.

I have been a life long fan of David Letterman, going back to his pre-NBC late show days with a short-lived day time show. But not any more.

Letterman has vowed to use the next 40 days of his show to keep McCain out of the White House. He seems to think he is Cronkite with his post-Tet editorial against the Vietnam War. Someone needs to remind him that he a professional clown, not a politcal player. If he wants to be a political player -- on a major broadcast network, he needs to fair. Whatever you think about McCain's march on Washington, it is clear he could have done it (for political purposes) in connection with a comedy stop-over.

Notably, Letterman was a big fan of Johnny Carson, and the admiration was reportedly mutual. But to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, Letterman is no Johnny Carson. He is not a gentleman, he has no sense of class, and he will not be watched by me again.