The last chance for John McCain.

John McCain has a problem. Not that he is going to lose what could be the last election of his career, but that he has too many options to use to win. The timetables on most are expired, but there are a few viable strategies left to him.

None of the options include ACORN, Ayers, Wright, or Rezko. These subjects, thanks to a compliant press, are not going to stick with the undecided voters. While these are real issues the American public should be worried about, they should have been exploited this past summer, and hammered home at the convention. Their time has come and gone.

So now, where do we go as a party? Not only to keep the White House, but to stem the tide in Congress. ISSUES.

The GOP needs to find a way to take back the two issues they have lost to the Democrats during this campaign…the economy, and taxes.

Part of the reason Obama is running only a few points ahead of McCain in the most recent national polls is people do not really believe he or the Democrats will lower taxes, or fix the economy. The other side of this is McCain has never really found a way to grab hold of either of these issues. The same old Republican talking points will only get him so far this time around. This is a unique economic situation, and it requires a unique idea to bring voters back to the party that has traditionally ruled when it comes to these issues.

John McCain threw away his best chance to win the election by voting for the $700 billion bailout package. If he had stood his ground, and supported the path of his party, he would have vaulted into a lead even Obama’s machine would be hard pressed to over come. Over 70% of Americans were opposed to the first version of the package, and the version that passed was at best, a 50-50 proposition.

Now, I am not willing to argue with McCain over his reasons…if he truly felt it was in the best interest of the nation then he had to vote for the package. That is the slogan of his campaign. However, he now has to live with that vote, and find a way to defend it to the American people, or better yet do the one thing no one has done, tell us how they will pay back the American people.

What if John McCain, with the blessing and backing of the Republicans running for national office, were to offer such a way?

If he were to gather all of the top brass of the GOP, hold a press conference, and announce that in the third year of his term, he would give every citizen of the nation a $2000 tax credit, he would go a long way to building the confidence of the voters. Not only would he be building confidence, but making a strong case to get the Republicans a majority in both houses.

If this were out there, and he could spend the last two weeks of the election talking about taxes, and his plan to give the American people their money back, he just might have a chance.


C. Andreas