[partially cross-posted from Al Giordano's wonderful The Field]

Today's town-hall invite letter from McCain is a first sign that maybe there are some synapses firing in Phoenix after all.  It's a clever ploy to neutralize Obama's advantages, particularly the money gap, and invoking JFK was a nice touch.  How Obama should respond, I'm not sure, except that the hasty scheduling is a nonstarter -- if only because Barack needs and deserves a vacation.

Only time will tell if the McCain campaign will fully learn the lessons of last night's disaster and overcome their congenital Republican risk-aversion.  If they ignore meaningless five-month-out polls and instead look honestly at their candidate's strengths and weaknesses, and at the daunting fundamentals, they'll see that a radical change in the playbook is the only way to keep this close & give their guy a puncher's chance.

Some things I'll be watching for to see if they're wising up:

1) He shouldn't make more than half-a-dozen formal teleprompter addresses (especially ones like last night before tiny, sleepy lily-white crowds) between now & the election.  Even stump speeches & rallies should be minimal.  He needs to treat this as a giant New Hampshire primary & stick to the "town hall" Q&A stuff--where he's frankly better than Obama, who rarely engages the questioner as an individual & tends to tack back into the stump speech a bit too much.  The risk is more "make it a hundred" moments, but again, their risk/reward calculus has to be much more generous than it has been.

2) If he so much as mentions Obama's name again (never mind repeating BO's slogans over & over) it's a mistake.  The whole right wing noise machine will be shoveling plenty of manure Barack's way; McCain can only get in their way, and get himself slimed in the process.

3) Work his real base: the press corps.  Grant a different "exclusive" interview every day.  Let Timmy or Steph or Brit or Tweety kiss his ass at least once a week.  Do Leno & Letterman & Stewart & Colbert at least twice each.

4) Find something, anything, on which to vote against Bush in the Senate.

5) Insofar as he can afford commercials, they should be either Q&A excerpts or talk-to-the-camera spots.  Enough with the bio & the grainy POW shots -- anyone who cares already knows.  If it's about you & not the voters, it's not worth the $$.

6) The fall debates will be make-or-break for him.  He should push for town-hall style if he can, and fight any attempt to allow the candidates to question each other.  He should ignore Obama as much as he can & only engage on issues (again: risky, since he's on the wrong side of every issue, but he has no choice).  If he condescends to Obama or comes across as angry or mean in any way, he loses -- big.

I still think he'll lose, but if he plays to his strengths, leaves the bullshit to "independent" surrogates, and maybe smiles once in a while in a non-cringe-inducing way, he might make it interesting.