Newport News, VA
I had to check with the local press crew that dropped in to cover the rally this morning: We stayed at hotel last night adjacent to a golf course, yet I've seen a lot of NRA stickers. Are we in "real Virginia" or fake Virginia? Liminal Virginia? "It's not rural, but it's REAL -- it's not 'DC Virginia.'"
And, true enough, if "real Virginia" is "where McCain has a chance of winning." Though by that definition, most of Virginia will magically disappear into a cloud of communism come Wednesday, as Obama is likely to win it.
McCain himself seemed to acknowledge this early on in his speech, when he gave the audience some of his legendary straight talk: "Let me state the obvious we need to win Virginia on the fourth to win."
It would also help if they held Arizona.
The crowd was enthusiastic enough, however, and included a fair amount of young people from a local private college. One fan was even younger. The ten year old that came to admire the media contingent's laptops told us he was sure that McCain would become president, even though, he admitted, "Everyone at my school is voting for Obama." Asked why, he rolled his eyes: "Because they're Democrats." And, obviously, were registered by ACORN.
McCain's remarks repeated most of what's become part of his standard stump speech during these final days. As with many candidates at the end of a long campaign, McCain seems at time as bored with it as the rest of his entourage is, and occasionally lurches into a verbless shorthand that sounds something like, "Joe! Drapes! Redistribution. Taxes! Fight!"
He also warns of the dark prospect of an undivided government, implying the horrors of what might happen "if the Democrats -- God forbid -- get total control of congress." The invocation of the deity is a sign of the campaign's urgency; with such a statement, McCain has probably done more public praying in the past few days than in the rest of his political life.
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