THE DAY

Posted at 10:28 p.m. ET

It's a remarkable thing, during a presidential campaign, when the candidates seem irrelevant.  In the last week they have been overshadowed by the economic news.  But no matter what happens with the economy, the American people will vote for a new president on November 4th.  If the election were held today, the winner would be Barack Obama.

Just think of it:  The next president may be a man who 1) has no record of public accomplishment; 2) is the darling of the far-left fringe of his party; 3) is a product of one of the most corrupt political machines in the country, yet promises reform and change; 4) expresses views during the campaign that are at marked variance with the views he's espoused for years; 5) seems to have a lower-than-average ability to tell the truth; 6)  and has not come up with a single creative idea to move this nation forward. 

Other than that, he's the best candidate we've ever had.

McCain is foundering.  The debate Friday did him no good, and it was about his home issue of foreign policy.  Although he may be playing a constructive role in the current talks over economic legislation, it's hard to know what that role is because it's played out behind closed doors.  He seems to have no economic message.

The most important upcoming event of the campaign will be the Thursday vice-presidential debate.  I love Sarah Palin, but, based on her recent showing in sit-down interviews, I have to be worried.

So, what to do?

First, McCain must recognize the emergency in his campaign.  There are signs he does.  Apparently, he's sent his best people, not the second string, to work with Sarah Palin before the debate.  There are reports that he understands that we must see on Thursday the Sarah we saw at the convention, not the Sarah we saw being asked trick "gotcha" questions by those profound minds, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.

Sarah has to come out fighting.  Go after both Democrats and Republicans over the financial crisis.  Speak on behalf of the American family.  And while you're at it, put Joe Biden - not the sharpest knife in Congress - on the defensive.  Whatcha been doin' all these years, Joe?  Tear apart Biden's abysmal record on foreign policy.  The man never saw a success that he favored.  In Joe Biden's world, the Cold War would still be on

And, by the way, almost as an afterthought, take on the media.  Where were Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric while the financial system was collapsing?  Why, given their salaries, they were probably making plenty of money on it.  Maybe, Sarah could say, the media giants could devote as much time to the American economy as they do to sending reporters to Anchorage to get any available dirt on the governor of Alaska.  It's time the McCain camp realized that 1) the media has made itself the enemy, and a branch of the Obama campaign and 2) the media is never very popular.  Make the media part of the same establishment that watched the financial markets tank and never warned us.  "I don't give a tinker's damn," Sarah could say, "what some overpaid media windbag thinks of me.  I don't talk media.  I talk people."  The public will cheer.

And go after Barack Obama.  Barack who?  What qualifications does this man have to be president?  We are in a national emergency, and the Democratic Party nominates a man who's never solved a problem greater than the choice of his tie. 

And then John McCain must take up the same themes and go on the attack.  McCain is best when he's McCain - fighting, animated, Gary Cooper in "High Noon."  (Indeed, Cindy McCain bears a striking resemblance to Cooper's co-star, Grace Kelly.) 

McCain and Palin should do a whistlestop across America.  Invite citizens onto the train.  And talk directly to the American people, over the heads of the press.  Ronald Reagan was masterful at that, as was Harry Truman. 

And they both won.

September 29, 2008.