Wall Street Ends McCain’s Lucky Streak

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, specializes in polling of electoral battleground states, including Ohio and Florida. Click here for Mr. Brown’s full bio.

The Republican presidential nominee had lived a charmed life during this election year.

At every stage in the campaign, when the fickle finger of fate had to point one way or another, it turned in John McCain’s direction.

This good fortune had allowed him to be a competitive candidate in a year that the lousy economy, unpopular war and even less popular Republican president should have, based on everything we know about politics, made the election an easy Democratic win.

But the recent Wall Street meltdown has done almost as much damage to Sen. McCain’s presidential prospects as it did to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

It has both badly scared the electorate and brought the economy even more front and center in voters’ minds. Whether fairly or not, Republican polices that loosened regulation of the financial services industry are being blamed by many.

What all this means is that one should not count on breaking the law of averages. Good luck can’t last forever, or in Sen. McCain’s case, through Election Day.

http://blogs.wsj.com/politicalperceptions/2008/10/05/will-wall-street-turmoil-sink-mccain-campaign/

:shrug:

And aren't we all thankful. Well, those of us who aren't about to lose our jobs and end up in the streets.

His poll numbers were based on nothing but novelty.

McCain messed up big time.