McCain Switches To High Octane After Tune-Up

I remember seeing the walking dead doing their half-hearted best on the Sunday talk shows, trying mightily to muster the energy to support a lackluster campaign run by John McCain. I remember thinking to myself that we were all but doomed to an Obama Presidency, and I remember being afraid. Very afraid.

The Obama campaign was enjoying energy and victory while the McCain campaign was twisting in the wind, searching for a handhold and anything to ease the misery. It all came to a screeching halt on a June night, the night Obama was effectively crowned the winner in his war with Mrs. Clinton before a wild crowd. While that was happening, McCain was giving an embarrassing speech before a sparse crowd somewhere in America that, at the moment, didn't matter.

Enter Steve Schmidt, a senior advisor to McCain, who was moved to action that night. He was also moved up in the pecking order in the campaign, achieving near equal status with Manager Rick Davis. It has paid off in spades because, since that fateful day, the McCain campaign has been running on all cylinders and gaining speed. Gone are the doldrums many in the Republican Party had felt and exhibited, replaced by an exuberance and youthful zing no one thought possible. And just when things couldn't have looked better for the campaign's success, McCain hit the nitrous oxide switch.

Sarah Palin has amplified the party's fuel system twofold and managed to pull even with the campaign that was once a mirage in the distance, seen through the haze of dust kicked up by Obama's tires. To mix metaphors, we've got ourselves a real horse race now.

When we can finally say President McCain, I think there will be a parade for Steve Schmidt. Or at the very least, there ought to be.

Sphere: Related Content