Blitz

John McCain is insane. Seven states before the day is done. He starts out in Florida, moves up to Tennessee, Pennsylvania, hits Indiana, jumps out west to Nevada, New Mexico, and lands home in Arizona late tonight. Meanwhile, Obama also starts in Florida, but merely heads to North and South Carolina before going home to Chicago.

This obviously follows along the fast finish media strategy for a campaign. These rallies in key swing states signify McCain's "never give up" attitude, inherited from Bush and other Republicans. Each candidate will run their campaigns to the voting polls, and it is evident through these sudden rallies.

Although each media strategy seems clear-cut, the candidates seem to have utilized all of them. They both started out very strong, kept that strength for over a year, and are ending strong. It can be labeled as any of the strategies, from spurt to cruise control. However, given the atmosphere of the media at this point, it can seem that the campaigns are adhering to a fast finish race. It started with Obama's 30-minute ad and is ending with McCain's cross-country rally.

CNN reported about two hours ago their interpretation of the candidate's ad strategies. They highlighted two television ads, one from each candidate. Both were attack ads. Obama's tied McCain in with the Bush administration. This is an Obama-endorsed ad, broadcasted nationally. The McCain ad was endorsed by the Pennsylvania GOP, not McCain. Therefore, it was highlighting Obama's association with his former pastor, Rev. Wright; McCain stated he would never talk about this again, but by having an ad sponsored by the Penn. GOP, it's fair game.

These fast finish strategies are shaping up to be reflections of the entire year, wrapped into one concentrated package.