Lending more credibility to Keystone Phil's anecdotes.

[anti_leftist]

We pay attention to our own polls," Mark Salter, a senior McCain aide told reporters Saturday. "Pennsylvania looked much better than Michigan."


McCain should no longer quit in PA, anymore than he should have quit when Romney was leading by double digits in New Hampshire

That's a ridiculously flawed analogy. NH was basically McCain's only chance to register a pivotal momentum-building first victory (since Ethanolia was a lost cause) and campaigning there didn't really hinder his chances anyway else due to the staggered nature of the primaries. By devoting more resources to PA than any other state, McCain is letting Obama outspend him badly in pivotal swing states won by Bush that McCain needs, exasperating an already significant fundraising deficit. Furthermore, the polls have consistently showing Obama with double digit leads in PA, so all that money/manpower isn't even producing any tangible gains for McCain there (even if it did, the gains would need to be tremendous to justify the attention McCain is lavishing on it IMO.) As I said in a poll I created a few days ago, McCain NEEDS to start abandoning PA NOW (he can do it quietly or gradually to avoid horrible PR), but some resources need to be diverted immediately to the states that would win him the election, namely OH, FL, VA, NC, MO, NV, CO. The opportunity costs of his current PA operations are mind-boggling.

[anti_leftist]

Phil, out of curiousity, do you still believe that
1) McCain has a realistic shot at taking PA (barring some extremely monumental event such as attempted assassination/major terrorist attack before election day) and
2) McCain is making the correct decision by turning PA into his most heavily-funded state (at the expense of the aforementioned Bush states, where Obama is largely outspending him.)

[anti_leftist]

We pay attention to our own polls," Mark Salter, a senior McCain aide told reporters Saturday. "Pennsylvania looked much better than Michigan."




McCain should no longer quit in PA, anymore than he should have quit when Romney was leading by double digits in New Hampshire

That's a ridiculously flawed analogy. NH was basically McCain's only chance to register a pivotal momentum-building first victory (since Ethanolia was a lost cause) and campaigning there didn't really hinder his chances anyway else due to the staggered nature of the primaries. By devoting more resources to PA than any other state, McCain is letting Obama outspend him badly in pivotal swing states won by Bush that McCain needs, exasperating an already significant fundraising deficit. Furthermore, the polls have consistently showing Obama with double digit leads in PA, so all that money/manpower isn't even producing any tangible gains for McCain there (even if it did, the gains would need to be tremendous to justify the attention McCain is lavishing on it IMO.) As I said in a poll I created a few days ago, McCain NEEDS to start abandoning PA NOW (he can do it quietly or gradually to avoid horrible PR), but some resources need to be diverted immediately to the states that would win him the election, namely OH, FL, VA, NC, MO, NV, CO. The opportunity costs of his current PA operations are mind-boggling.

McCain Camp, RNC to Spend $160 Million in Final Weeks

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/10/mccain-camp-rnc-spend-million-final-weeks/

Well oops there goes that sound theory

That still doesn't change my basic argument that McCain's massive expenditures in PA would be far better spent elsewhere. Even if McCain does outspend Obama in the real battlegrounds the next few weeks, pulling funds out of PA could significantly increase that advantage further in those states (considering how far behind he trails in some of these polls now, he needs every advantage he can get).