Blink

At least that's what it looks like from here.

McCain may still be able to pull something out if a deal gets worked out that looks better than the original Paulson plan, but right now it looks like McCain wanted to cancel the debate and work out a deal and did neither.

The Ohio Newpaper Poll that gave McCain a 6 point advantage over Obama showed how vulnerable McCain could be on the economy in Ohio. A full 47% of all Ohioans polled said they were worse off than they were four years ago. Respondents over the age of 30 had higher "worse off" scores than those under 30. Despite this, McCain led with voters over the age of 30 while Obama led with voters under 30.

It's critical that McCain hold the 30+ demographics to win Ohio, and the economy is certainly the area of vulnerability for him. It will be interesting to see how the polls play out over then next couple of weeks.

If McCain can be seen as the one who stopped the "bailout" and replaced it with something else, that may play well. Right now, it's not looking that way, and with the media deciding on how they want to portray things, I think it's going to get tough.

UPDATE: The Columbus Dispatch is reporting John Boehner from the Cincinnati area is emerging as a prime voice against the bailout as it is currently structured, and is working w/ McCain on a deal. As I mentioned earlier, if the bailout is replaced by something else, this might be OK, and having Boehner involved won't hurt.