At least we got a good 3 hours this morning where the candidates spoke about real issues

Before this story and this grabbed everyone's attention this afternoon.
At this point in the race I think Jesus Christ himself could return and McCain and Obama would still be attacking eachother over whether they were more deserving of the rapture, but hey, this is politics, it's a rough game.
The race has definitely tightened since last weekend with McCain holding a roughly 1 point lead in most polling averages, a sign that either his bounce is fading, the Palin honeymoon is over, or people are favoring Obama's economic message.
A bad economy favors Democrats this year, but neither candidate has really been able to break through with a one sentence statement that voters can identify with on the economy message, and although each will blame eachother's party, the Bush administration and those "fat cats" on wall street for all their greed and manipulation. It'll be really interesting to see what actually breaks through the static over the next couple of months, if anything at all.
Obama donned his suit and tie today to make a big speech on the economy, but nothing really new was said that he hasn't laid out in economic speeches before and I think if he seriously wants to get this race by the horns he has to have something catchy his campaign can put on a bumper sticker in order to really break through the almost hourly noise of campaign barbs, bad news, and the daily gaffe count.
Maybe he could try being more optimistic, voters responded to his hope message well, and I think people now are looking for more hope and solutions and less badgering and insults.
In fact, I think McCain has already tried to steal this mantle, with his speeches being generally more optimistic and enthusiastic, even though he got in trouble for saying "the fundamentals of our economy are strong. . ." I honestly think voters will respect that, people don't want doom and gloom from their politicians, they want to feel pride in their country and be inspired. If Obama allows McCain to wrestle this message away from him, then he may never be able to get back the lead he enjoyed for the majority of this campaign that he has suddenly seen slip from his fingers.