Where It Stands Right Now

Here are three things that paint the story. First, a piece called "Wheels Come Off Straight Talk Express?" from NBC's First Read:

From NBC's Mark Murray
For a candidate who prides himself in "straight talk" -- and whose political image in part is based on that truth-telling reputation -- Saturday proved to be a brutal day for John McCain and his campaign.

First came a front-page New York Times piece noting that McCain "has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth." There was also an accompanying fact-check of McCain's latest TV ad, which called it the "latest in a number that resort to a dubious disregard for the facts."

The Washington Post gave "four Pinnochios" to McCain's recent assertion on "The View" that Palin never took earmarks as Alaska governor. Then the Boston Globe reported that Palin didn't really travel inside Iraq as has been claimed. And Bloomberg News said that the McCain camp may not have been exactly truthful in estimating the size of its recent crowds. "Now officials say they can't substantiate the figures McCain's aides are claiming."

To top it off, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said this to the Politico about the increased media scrutiny of the campaign's factual claims: "We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

Not surprisingly, the Obama camp has pounced on all this, issuing a memo to reporters entitled "Unraveling the myth of the Straight Talk Express." The memo argues, "Since naming Governor Palin as their vice presidential nominee, the McCain campaign has distorted, distracted, and outright lied to the American people about her record in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that a McCain/Palin Administration would be nothing more than a continuation of the failed Bush policies of the last eight years."

And it concludes, "While the media is slowly starting to call the McCain campaign on their dishonest tactics, McCain’s staff boasts that they don’t care. As a McCain spokesman told the Politico, 'We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.'"

Second, the status of the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll:


[Click on the chart for a clearer view, then hit back arrow to return here.]

Third, comments from David Axelrod, Obama's Campaign Strategist, also from First Read:

I think...that this race is pretty much where it was right before the convention. Why isn't [McCain] doing better? Why after all this ballyhoo and all this fascination isn't he doing better than he was before the convention started? This race is basically a very close and competitive race going into the convention. It is now. It's likely to be right up to the end. I think the American people are very serious about this election. You can see it in the amount of eyeballs that were on the conventions. Huge audiences watching both conventions. I think you'll see huge amount- numbers of people watching the debates.