The Early Word: A Way for McCain
Though pollsters and pundits may forecast dwindling options for the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, with 11 days to go The Times’s Adam Nagourney throws some cold water on the notion that the presidential race is over:
“The McCain campaign is roughly in the position where Vice President Gore was running against President Bush one week before the election of 2000,” said Steve Schmidt, Mr. McCain’s chief strategist. “We have ground to make up, but we believe we can make it up.”
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Even the most hearty of the McCain supporters acknowledge that it will not be easy, and there are a considerable number of Republicans who say, off the record, that the 2008 cake is baked. At this point in the campaign, Mr. McCain’s hopes of victory may rest on events over which he simply does not have control.