According to the latest Yahoo! news headlines, "Barack Obama and John McCain Soften their Blows" and "McCain Struggles for upset in Pa.,; GOP Doubts Grow", just by looking at these headlines, it's safe to say that McCain is in trouble. Even if he stays positive until next Thursday (November 4), he is almost guaranteed to lose the election. On top of that, he is struggling in Pennsylvania, a state that Obama got whalloped in during the primaries and caucuses by Hillary Clinton. What conclusion can we draw here? McCain is now faced with the same task that Hillary Clinton was faced at the end of the primaries and caucuses: how to get out without humiliating himself. Also, it's never good to have your own party doubting you while you remain stubborn.

In "McCain struggles for upset in Pa.; GOP doubts grow", McCain said that "I'm not afraid of the fight. I'm ready for it". McCain doesn't sound too conciliatory in that article. One of the main reasons that McCain is struggling so much is because for much of the campaign, he has only attacked Obama's policies without coming up with his own ideas.

Obama responded: "I just want all of you to know that if we see this kind of dedication on election day, there is no way that we're not going to bring change to America".

Then, the attacks started. McCain started off with "No one will delay Game 5 of the World Series with an infomercial when I'm president". McCain again is slamming Obama as someone who is mostly pomp and not a lot of substance, if any. Remember the attack ads depciting Obama being like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton? What McCain still isn't admitting, however, is the fact that his running mate, Sarah Palin, is exactly like Spears and Hilton, even more so than Obama with her 'You betchas' and 'Gotchas'.

Next up was an attack on Obama and Biden's tax policy. Biden said earlier on a local TV station, WNEP, that the only people who should pay lower taxes are "middle class people - people making less than $150000 per year". McCain's response: "At this rate, it won't be long before Sen. Obama is right back to his vote that people making just $42000 a year should get a tax increase. We can't let that happen. We won't let that happen". McCain has completely misunderstood Obama's message. Obama's plan says that anyone making less than US$250000 per year won't see a tax increase.

Obama also chipped in with some attacks of his own. Specifically, he derided McCain's laissez-faire economic policies again, being like President Bush's policies: "John McCain has ridden shotgun as George Bush has driven our economy toward a cliff and now he wants to step on the gas". Here, Obama is using a football analogy. With Bush at the center of this latest economic collapse, he snaps the ball to McCain who fumbles. Obama is attacking GOP policy in general here, because Republicans are much more in favor of laissez-faire and free-market policies than democrats who have historically been more interventionist. Just think about Herbert Hoover and FDR. Hoover was laissez-faire and FDR was interventionist.

McCain's public policy advisor DXouglas Holtz-Eakin tried to clarify the issue by arguing that younger voters would be reluctant to abandon the health care provided by their employers/companies because "what they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could have gotten with the credit".

Obama responded by saying that the McCain camp is finally providing "a stunning bit of straight talk - an October surprisea". OK, let's get this health care debate cleared up. Under Obama's plan, health care would be mandatory which isn't a bad thing, considering the fatality rates from cancer, etc. Under Obama's proposal, people who like thier current health care plan, regardless of whether they get it from their employers or from some other source, they can keep it, but if they don't, they have the option of paying into a fund that would give these people the same health care that McCain and Obama are enjoying right now as US government officials. This doesn't sound too bad, does it? The fact that the McCain camp is attacking this only reinforces how desperate they are.

In "Barack Obama and John McCain Soften their Blows", it still seems as if McCain is the 'attack dog'. If we look at the way McCain is attacking, Palin can just go to SNL or "The View" because McCain no longer needs her to attack. In Denver, Obama started off "We have always been at our best when we're called (upon) to look past our differences and to come together as one nation, leadership that has rallied this country to a common purpose, to a higher goal". While critics again may mock this statement as something like what Martin Luther King Jr would say, but the only thing is that Obama isn't MLK, the only thing that matters now, 1 week before the election, is that Obama's message is reaching voters, both Democrats and previously undecided voters, while McCain hasn't done this yet.

Here's McCain's response in Zanesville, Ohio on "Meet the Press" with Tom Brokaw: "I'm going to create wealth for all Americans by creating opportunity for all Americans". There's no mention or indication as to how McCain plans to do this.

McCain goes on to say that "I choose to follow the senses as well as the polls. II've been in a lot of presidential campaigns. I see the intensity out there. I see the passion. We're very competitive out there. We're going to be up very, very late on election night". If McCain is trusting his senses now and this is what his senses are telling him, then his senses are misleading him. All indications are that Obama will have a comfortable victory, so McCain won't have to stay up that late because he'll be heading back to Capitol Hill where he has been for the past 21 years.

Then, McCain started to plead: "I fought for you when defeat meant more thna returning to the Senate". OK, so now McCain is telling us something that we hadn't heard before: that defeat for him would be humiliating. However, "I fought for you" just won't cut it this late in the game. Perhaps in the heat of the moment, McCain has forgotten that if you're nice to people, they won't always be nice back. Usually, they are, but not ALWAYS.

McCain continued his assault on Obama's tax proposals at an evening in Lancaster, Ohio: Obama is already "making plans to raise taxes, increase spending and concede defeat in Iraq". Let's do a fact check. Obama will indeed raise taxes on the richest 5% of the population because they can government still needs to operate in tough economic times and wealthy people can afford to pay higher taxes. Secondly, as far as McCain's accusation that Obama will "increase spending" is concerned, Obama said that he would go through the Federal budget line by line and eliminate proposals that don't work or are impractical. That's totally different from increasing spending. That sounds like a decrease in expenditure. Finally, as far "conceding defeat in Iraq" is concerned, Obama would listen to troops on the ground even though Obama has opposed this second Iraq invasion from the outset. So, Sen. McCain is wrong on all 3 accusations here.

In Colorado, Obama kept up the pressure on Bush and therefore McCain on their economic policy: "We know what the Bush-McCain philosophy looks like - it's a policy that says we should give more to the folks at the top - to millionaires and billionaires, to the wealthiest among us - and somehow it's going to trickle down to the rest of us". Notice how Obama uses "us" and McCain uses "I" and "you". Again, this reinforces the message that Obama's message that we're all in this together is hitting home whereas McCain is increasingly dysfunctional and hoping that "I fought for you" will win him some votes in the closing stages of this campaign. So far, this hasn't worked.

Obama once again reiterated his pledge to protect middle and owrking-class citizens: "Let me be crystal clear. If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year - which includes 98% of small-business owners and 99.9% of plumbers - then you won't see your taxes increase one single dime. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax, no tax. That is my commitment to you". McCain, on the other hand, has made no such pledge.

Then, Obama asked how many of his supporters had voted early. After looking around at the raised hands, Obama said "That's what I like to see. If you have not early-voted (i.e. voted early), then talk to that person who is raising their hand next to you and find out how to early vote (vote early). It's easy, it's fun. You'll feel morally superior having already cast your ballot while those lazy procrastinators are waiting until Nov. 4". If McCain was waiting for an Obama gaffe, he got it here because Obama used phrases such as "morally superior" and "those lazy procrastinators". If this sounds like an insult, it is. Some people may not be able to vote early because of work or other commitments/issues. The question is: how much of a boost will McCain get from this 'unforced error', if any?

McCain then went on to talk about energy. He proposed to investment in "all energy alternatives" (wind, solar, tide, natural gas & clean coal). McCain said that "I'm going to make government live on a budget just like you do". Again, McCain is using "you". Also, for someone who doesn't know/can;t keep track of how many properties he owns, we have to question the authenticity of this statement.

Finally, McCain again applauded Palin: "She lives a frugal life; she and her family are not wealthy. She and her family were thrust into this (by McCain, who revealed Palin on the Friday before the Republican National Convention). She is a role model to millions and millions of Americans". How is Palin a role model? There used to be a positive "Palin effect". Now, voters are defecting to the Democrats because they were probably put off, among other things, Bristol Palin's sex and pregnancy before marriage. Also, it's inconceivable how Palin could be poor and "lives a frugal life". According to Wikipedia, Palin won the Miss Wasilla Award and the 1984 Miss Alaska Pageant. How can McCain claim that Palin is poor? People get money for winning contests like this, especially beauty contests and there's pomp and circumstance to boot.