The Note: Tabled Motions

Oct. 21, 2008— -- Here they all come -- socialists and terrorists and (though still not a certain evangelist) -- plus a plumber who gets a late chance to join them. (Surely, the president's invitation was lost like a swing-state mailer.)

So Sen. John McCain sets an interesting table for these final two weeks, and throws everything he can onto it. (Is that really a Republican candidate calling a Democratic candidate a liberal? And your campaign is really all about the economy, senator?)

But voters may no longer be hungry, even for red meat. (And how many dishes can they stomach, anyway?)

McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin will work it hard on their diminished map. But that's no guarantee that anyone will still be listening. And there's a trap here: the more they fight, the more they fall into the flailing/erratic quicksand put in place by their rivals.

Sen. Barack Obama will be able to take two days off the trail to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii, most likely without serious worry about ceding ground.

He's got it to spare (even if Sen. Joe Biden does his best to wear it down): It's a nine-point Obama edge -- 53-44 -- in the first day of the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll. The fundamentals, shall we say, appear soundly in place: "John McCain has climbed back from his record shortfalls on economic empathy and 'change' since the final presidential debate last week -- but not enough to alter the basic dynamic of his contest with Barack Obama," ABC Polling Director Gary Langer writes.

With apologies to Joe the Plumber . . . Obama "still leads in trust to handle the economy overall, voters' overwhelming issue, by 16 points, 55-39 percent, essentially the same as pre-debate," Langer writes.

How does McCain win without this edge? "Here is Barack Obama's favorite number right now: 49 percent of likely voters say he is the best candidate to handle an unexpected crisis. Only 45 percent of likely voters say that about McCain, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll," ABC's George Stephanopoulos reports in his new blog. "What a difference four months makes."

A glimmer: "While Obama's lead is steady across these polls, there were indications that McCain has improved his position on some issues and some attributes important to voters' decision-making," Dan Balz and Jon Cohen write in The Washington Post. "Since the Post-ABC poll taken before the final debate, McCain has narrowed the gap with Obama on understanding the economic problems people in the country are facing, on bringing needed change to Washington and on the question of which candidate is the 'stronger leader.' "

It's a 12-point Obama advantage -- 53-41 -- in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

"As voters have gotten to know Senator Barack Obama, they have warmed up to him, with more than half, 53 percent, now saying they have a favorable impression of him and 33 percent saying they have an unfavorable view," Megan Thee writes in The New York Times. "But as voters have gotten to know Senator John McCain, they have not warmed, with only 36 percent of voters saying they view him favorably while 45 percent view him unfavorably."

An opening, from Sen. Joe Biden: "Mark my words," Biden said Sunday, per ABC's Matt Jaffe. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. . . . Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

His words have been marked: "We face many challenges here at home, and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world," McCain told a rally in Belton, Mo. "We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars."

The AP's Glen Johnson: "John McCain's criticism that Barack Obama isn't experienced enough to be president got a boost when the Democrat's own running mate, Joe Biden, told donors that he expected his boss to be tested, if elected, by a 'generated crisis' shortly after taking office."

McCain still has Bill Ayers on his mind. On Palin's criticism of robo-calls, McCain said Tuesday on "The Early Show": "Sarah is a maverick. That robo-call is absolutely accurate. And by the way, Sen. Obama's campaign is running robo-calls as we speak. I'm sure that Sarah and I have disagreed on some issues, you know, and to think somehow that we are saying something untrue in those calls is absolutely false. He was friends with a terrorist and his wife. He was, and we need to know the full relationship."

Is it about personal attacks? ""Listen to me, I'm the candidate. And this campaign is about the economy." (Good to know.)

Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are friends again: "We are going to win. This campaign has so much momentum for all the right reasons," Clinton, D-N.Y., told ABC's Cynthia McFadden Monday, in a joint interview with Obama to air on "Nightline" Tuesday (check out the hug).

Clinton: "Not only are people concluding in their own self-interests that they need Barack as our president, but external circumstances in the economy have focused attention on what's been going on for the last eight years."

Obama loves the help, particularly in Florida: "There are some passionate supporters of hers that may still be trying to figure out who to vote for. She's got some great crossover appeal," said Obama. "She's been consistent in campaigning down here in Florida for us. . . . I think it's why we're doing a little better here than we were a month ago."

In Florida, "it was the words of his Republican rivals that Obama used to urge supporters to the polls on the first day of early voting in this tropical battleground," Mark Z. Barabak writes in the Los Angeles Times. Said Obama: "Ugly phone calls. Misleading mail. Misleading ads. Careless, outrageous comments. All aimed at keeping us from working together. All aimed at stopping change."

What sayeth the wise men?

Mark Penn is impressed: "The presidential campaign's homestretch is looking a lot more like President Bill Clinton's 1996 solid reelection over Republican nominee Bob Dole than like Ronald Reagan's late-breaking 1980 landslide over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter," Penn writes in a Politico column. "Obama need only keep this election on track -- hold big rallies in key states; roll out any remaining endorsements, such as Colin Powell's; flood the airwaves with ads; and mobilize young people to show up at the polls."

Just enough time to panic? "Two weeks to go -- time enough for one last case of Democratic wobbles and one last resort fueled by Republican desperation," Bob Shrum writes in his The Week column. "A study of the election state by state reveals McCain has a virtually impossible tight rope walk to victory while Obama has five or six different avenues to win -- some of which are veritable boulevards."