Political Perceptions: McCain’s Giant Challenge in the Final Debate

John McCain greets supporters on stage as he arrives at a rally at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., Tuesday. (AP) For Sen. John McCain , tonight’s third and final presidential comes “with a degree of difficulty perhaps beyond the capacity of human achievement,” writes Slate’s John Dickerson . And that statement isn’t just “the obligatory hyperbole required to create false drama.” Rather, “Wednesday night is McCain’s last big chance to reach a wide national audience without the media filter. (Barack) Obama is ahead in the national and state polls. By Pollster.com’s tabulation, Obama is comfortably ahead in states that would give him 256 electoral votes. By that measure, he needs only 14 more electoral votes to win.” More than that, “after the debate, there will be only 19 days left to campaign. After about Oct. 21st—13 days before Election Day—there will be more states to go to than there will be days left to go to them. Without a big debate moment, ... (link)