McCain's speech - thumbs up, thumbs down

It's go time 

No matter who you side with, last night's speech marked the end of the pre-season and the beginning of Campaign 2008 (although it's been going on since 2005).  And Romney's already gearing up for 2012.  And the web domains Palin2012.com, Palin2016.com and Palin2020.com are already taken.  Biden2032.com is available, however.

As if they needed any motivation, both campaigns could check out that scene in the greatest movie ever made - Rocky II - where Adrian wakes from her coma and whispers to Rocky “There’s one thing I want you to do for me. … Win.”

Campaign managers David Axelrod and Steve Schmidt can play the part of Mick responding "What are we waiting fer..."

They weren't waiting fer anything, in fact.  Schmidt and Axelrod were up early seeing who could outdo each other with the "my candidate is more about change than yours, so there."

Schmidt on the Today Show said McCain has a "record of fighting to change" while for Obama change is a "campaign tactic."

Axelrod, over on CBS's "The Early Show" said, "Last night Sen. McCain used the word 'change,' but the policies that he describes were very familiar. ... This isn't change, this is more of the same."

It's off to the battleground states

The same states will see a lot of attention in the next eight weeks.  Those are the battleground states.

Today, the McCain-Palin ticket is in Wisconsin and Michigan.  They're doing the tag-team thing.  Palin's not solo-ing yet.  But if Wednesday's speech was any indication, she'll be on her own very soon.

As for the Obama-Biden duo, they're all over Pennsylvania - but separately.

Their focus?  Totally different says USA Today's Susan Page.

“It's almost as if the two contenders are running in different races,” Page writes. “Democrats calculate that the presidential election will turn on bread-and-butter issues. To judge by their speeches at the convention, Republicans are convinced it will be defined by questions of character and trust.”

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