William Bradley: Six Reasons McCain's Lucky He Didn't Make It On That Oil Rig

Presidential politics ran on two tracks this week. Barack Obama roaming the world to widespread applause and great pictures. And John McCain and his campaign griping about it all. For Thursday, McCain, a noted gambler, thought he had an ace in the hole to counter Obama's big Berlin speech. He would chopper out from Louisiana to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Which would do two things. Remind everyone he was a naval aviator. And push his big new theme that more offshore oil drilling is the way to bring down sky-high gas prices. (The existence of which he blames on Obama, curiously, in his latest TV ad, ignoring that gas prices have tripled under President Bush.) All with really cool pix. But his campaign had to cancel late Wednesday, officially because of the threat of inclement weather from nearby Hurricane Dolly. Which... [read full story]