McCain Camp Looking For Treats, Not Tricks

Senior advisers for John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee briefed reporters on the state of the race earlier today, with campaign manager Rick Davis proclaiming his candidate in the midst of "one of the greatest comebacks that you've seen since John McCain won the primary."

Political director Mike DuHaime laid out the campaign's efforts in targeting voters over the past several days, saying that the joint effort with the RNC has given the campaign a "data and technology edge" that has allowed for intense micro-targeting and voter identification. DuHaime said the effort has far outpaced that of the Bush campaign in 2004. "In the past week, past seven days, we've made over 5.3 million targeted calls and door knocks," he said according to a transcript of the call released by the campaign. "These are the people we believe are either going to vote for McCain and need the push to get out or are people who are persuadable voters that we think are still sitting on the fence that we need to personally touch. We did 1.3 million phone calls and door knocks yesterday alone."

Davis also predicted that the McCain campaign will have outspent Barack Obama's in TV advertising over the last ten days of the campaign when all is said and done and insisted that many voters remain in the class of late-breakers. And, on the subject of running mate Sarah Palin, Davis launched a strong defense. "Governor Palin's crowds are huge," he said, noting that her event last night drew 20,000 people while Joe Biden drew just 800 in the same vicinity. "So, all the talk that we see on television and the newspapers about what a drag Governor Palin is on our ticket can't be further from the truth. She's electrifying crowds all across the battleground states, and we really appreciate the hard work she's putting in."