Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I See A landslide Coming...

McCain Has To Campaign In Home State


By Matthew DeLong

SAN DIEGO -- With a Zogby online poll finding Sen. Barack Obama holds a narrow lead over Sen. John McCain in Arizona, McCain may step up his campaigning in his home state. McCain often spends weekends unwinding at his property in Sedona. Though his campaign often informs reporters of his weekend activities -- like his recent post-church Sunday visits to a Veteran’s Administration hospital in Phoenix and an Arizona National Guard base -- they are rarely open to the press.

This weekend, however, was different. McCain visited his Southwest regional campaign headquarters in Phoenix -- where he gave his local supporters a pep talk. The event was your basic photo-op -- it was open to the press, but he did not take questions. Shortly before taking off for San Diego this morning, McCain, and his wife, Cindy, dropped by The Eggery, a diner in central Phoenix, which is "decked out in French country décor," according to the pool report. There, he greeted patrons and met with a group of local citizens over breakfast before taking questions from the press pool. Topics included: Obama's op-ed article in this morning's New York Times, offshore drilling and the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae crisis.

It was a minor, run-of-the-mill campaign event, as these things go -- but it was an event nonetheless. McCain has not done much campaigning in Arizona, for he has not had much reason to -- the conventional wisdom was that he would easily carry his home state. Last month, the McCain camp released a video detailing its strategy on its Website, in which Arizona was listed as a swing state. Now that the Zogby poll has given a clear indication this may be true -- and with Obama vowing to compete in all 50 states, including Arizona -- we'll be looking for McCain to be a lot more active during his weekends at home.

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