McCain has them just where he wants them

That’s a joke. Sort of…

From anybody else, it might be ripe for ridicule. But McCain has staked some fame on his come-from-behind, underdog status. After all, look at where he was last Fall, and the fact that he is one of two candidates for president today.

“We’re going to be in a tight race and we’re going to be up late on election night. That’s just — I’m confident of that. I’ve been in too many campaigns, my friend, not to sense that things are headed our way,” McCain said Sunday on Fox News. 

“I love being the underdog. You know, every time that I’ve gotten ahead, somehow I’ve messed it up,” the Republican candidate said.

And, in spite of most polls and the new endorsement by Gen. Colin Powell (not to mention the thrust of nearly all the elite media)….McCain’s camp has some mojo. Like Yogi (purportedly) said, ‘it ain’t over ’till it’s over’.

This is good, for those of us who enjoy sports metaphors and long-shot, cinderalla stories. (Okay, bear with me on this, because it’s been rough going for sports fans in Chicago and this guy has a really good analogy.)

If you went to the University of Florida when I did, you know heartache. In my freshman year, we lost the first game, tied the second, and lost everything else.  Then, the following year, we were up by one over the hated Georgia Bulldogs. Ninety seconds left, Georgia on their own seven… we’re gonna win! Buck Belue rolls into his own end zone, hits Lindsey Scott on the 25… and time slows to a crawl… That magnificent bastard runs all the way back for the touchdown. That was the worst 20 seconds of my young life.

The last six weeks of McCain’s campaign have felt like those twenty seconds — replayed endlessly, every day. Just slow-motion, open-mouthed disbelief.

There comes a point when you are down late in the game and the team morale will break one way or another. When they know they’re beaten you see it in the play calling and in the faces on the bench. The fans are sullen. Most of them have left the stadium muttering about next year.

But now and then, down by 14 with less than 3:00 on the clock, you can watch your guys sprint onto the field. No huddle. Quick slashing passes to the sidelines. Stop the clock. First down.

When you see they mean to win this thing, no matter how far behind… something happens. The critical thing happens. The fans get in the game.

McCain may not necessarily have fans, but his base is in the game now.