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Measuring the Drapes
Oct. 13, 2008 3:22 pm
John McCain uncorked a new stump speech today in which he accuses overconfident Dems and their man Barack Obama of already "measuring the drapes" at the White House.
This is a tactic that's been tried before, with mixed results.
The last Republican to use that line was President Bush in 2006, just before voters changed the drapes and the carpet and the whole darn congressional color scheme.
It was more effective for Democrat Tom Vilsack, who didn't stop at drapes.
His 1998 campaign pushed a story accusing Republican Jim Ross Lightfoot of moving furniture from Shenandoah to storage in Des Moines in anticipation of a sure win and a move to Terrace Hill. Vilsack pulled the upset over the once heavily-favored Republican, although Lightfoot's poll numbers had begun to sink before any furniture rumors broke.
Bottom line, the temptation to drink in pre-election polls and mistake them for victory champagne is always a bad move. McCain's right, it's not over.
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