If McCain is so tone deaf that he would deliver a speech favoring off shore drilling in Santa Barbara, no campaign shake up could possibly help.  Blame the staff all you want Senator, but if you don't have the judgment, or control over your staff to prevent something like this, how are you going to run you white House?

  I won't apply an analogy from sport or the military but do I think about desk chairs and Titanic. Yes, the McCain campaign is saddled with Bush's popularity (stuck in the teens or twenties). They are also running against Obama who prevailed against the Clintons and all they threw against him. Multiple sectors of the economy are miserable, people are unhappy with Iraq and the military admits Afghanistan will get worse before it improves.  McCain's opponent is also prepared to outspend and Barack has a healthy start in several states with paid staff in place.  No shakeup on the McCain staff will make Obama any blacker and can't make McCain more heroic or younger.  Sure, more money can be shaken from some pockets and John's message can be more focused and is events should be more relevant.

  But how much does McCain want to talk about the economy?  He can't really brag about any success in Iraq while the occupation highlights the lack of troops in Afghanistan.  Barack is presenting an idea or two each week and one out of four are a nod to the right (only Obama promises he'll do it better).  McCain may have been in the game for longer than Obama but Barack has been working with a locked-up game plan for this match that may pre-date the McCain run in '00.  It appears McCain only has a choice of using an old set of policies which will offend his base or rejecting some of his brand in favor of Bush's least popular and unsuccessful routines.

  Perhaps moving people in, out and around is the fix for John.  He has kept it close...but Barack has barely begun his eight week run to the finish.  

  Oh, Team Obama isn't exactly waiting for McCain to catch up.

question: What is McCain's logo? Obama's is everywhere, and we all know what it is. Shouldn't McCain's team have come up with at least that by now? In this day of consumerism and branding?

McCain is underestimating Obama just as much as Hillary did, and he's running an even worse campaign. I guess they've finally realized it, but is it too late?

scire  asked, "What is McCain's logo?"

I was thinking that the repetition of OBAMA has made the once odd name a brand in itself.  When the right was drawing attention to his name they must have forgotten that HONDA once seemed strange compared to Chevy or Dodge.  

McCain's problem is he has a strong brand that seems to appeal to a shrinking population (they're dyin'). I suppose an actuary could tell us what percentage of his base won't make it to November. I know that's macabre but more of his core is leaving the planet each day so time isn't on his side. Maybe his numbers were better in '00 because more people weren't dead. Ain't no staff change to fix that...

Michael: you're right. Who even thinks about how odd his name is anymore, with the exception of the Republican media and they probably don't really -- they're just repeating themselves out of desperation, for lack of other weapons.

scire :  ...just as I know my brand is not working...

Someone else owns my name! No, I won't rank until people think "not Crowley" and address me as michael.

Fat chance...

michael,confused by that last post. Do you want me to think "not Crowley" or not? or do you want to be addressed in lower case?