CNN: "It's August, and in August it's harder to get attention from the electorate -- and the issues, while they're important, often take a back seat to people's personal schedules," said campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. The McCain team "made a cognizant decision" to spice up their approach, said Bounds.
CNN asks is it working with the general public?
I think McCain has made a fool of himself. I loved the first ad but he went a bit too far and then he was upstaged by Paris Hilton and that's never a good thing for a president to be. Not to get all arugula (I've never eaten it either, couldn't even tell you what it looks like) but as far as I can see the ads worked for their targeted audience, the uneducated white working class.
McCain's campaign has been filling the traditional late-summer news lull with a string of stunts featuring a prickly humor that could come from the insult comic's act. It could prove a potent political weapon against Sen. Barack Obama or it could bomb in his face like a bad joke.It will be interesting to see what the McCain camp does for attention now that Obama is on vacation.
There are irony-laced videos. There are eBay-friendly props. And there is McCain himself, who has incorporated some of the best laugh lines into his stump speech.
The McCain camp's comedy-lined assault effectively rankles Democrats -- but does it work on the press and public?