Ups and downs of presidential politics
With such a wild week in the presidential race, it is impossible to guess what the next five may bring voters.
John McCain "suspended" his campaign and then played hard to get with the first debate. Barack Obama was chased out of the headlines, but still appeared to gain momentum. The vice presidential candidates tripped up so many times pundits couldn't even keep up.
Still, it was all overshadowed by the push for a historic economic rescue plan as the nation's leaders declared the financial sky was falling.
Here's a look at highlights, background and under-the-radar items from the last seven days. We also take a nervous look ahead.
The debate
The first presidential debate saw some punches, but none seemed to deliver a knockout. McCain attempted to look as if he was schooling Obama on foreign policy while Obama hoped to make the Arizona senator seem uncaring about middle-class voters.
Yet, on the top question of the day - the massive bailout one of them will have to govern under - both candidates couldn't say how they would vote because a piece of legislation didn't yet exist. They both spoke more in terms of generalities as to what they wanted the package to do for voters and the economy.
The battleground
Obama enjoyed a significant boost in Michigan this week. Several polls came out showing him ahead, mostly because voters there believe he will do best by the economy. This prompted CNN to move the swing state from a "toss up" yellow to a "Democrat-leaning" light blue.
Michigan's 17 Electoral College votes would go a long way to help Obama win. But Republicans aren't going to pull out of the state. McCain still has plenty of support there, especially on the Lake Michigan side.
The Arizona Republican has swung through before hammering on economic issues and playing a friend to automakers. Expect him to do that again soon.
If the polls are right, then one has to wonder why Obama isn't doing as well in Ohio, which has similar economic struggles and a close ratio of rural voters to urban ones. Of course that state went wild for Hillary Clinton ... which leads us to...
Hillwatch
Clinton is making moves in the key states she can potentially swing for Obama: Florida, Pennsylvania and, of course, Ohio.
The former first lady has started up a "Hillary Sent Me" grass-roots effort to channel her die-hard supporters into working for Obama and other Democrats she picks in close elections.
The announcement came shortly after she barnstormed through Ohio last weekend and she started running radio spots in battleground states asking her followers to join the cause.
"I think that as we go through this very serious economic crisis, more and more Ohioans are going to say: 'Wait a minute we need a new vision. We need new leadership,'" Clinton told supporters on a conference call with Ohio backers this week.
Hillary is set to speak in Michigan this weekend and send her supporters to New Hampshire.
Palinwatch
Sarah Palin's press problems are only getting worse.
Early in the week the campaign took hits for trying to ban journalists from the press pool coverage of her meet-and-greets with world leaders at the United Nations.
Later in an interview with CBS' Katie Couric, she was roundly criticized by pundits who considered her shaky and unsure on key national issues. At one point she disagreed with McCain on whether the economy was heading to a depression, leaving him to backtrack on a follow-up interview with Couric.
Yet, Palin remains popular. Earlier in the week her campaign was boasting that she drew several thousand more people to a rally in Wisconsin than Obama did.
What else you may have missed:
The McCain campaign may be making headway in the rural areas of Indiana, Ohio and even Illinois with an off-radar pitch on coal.
The campaign started running Web ads and blasting local media with digs accusing Obama and Joe Biden of opposing so-called clean coal development - which in these regions is seen as the only way to revitalize their desperate economies.
Coming Up
McCain's camp will look to pick up steam this week, in hopes poll numbers do not slide further. With more than five weeks left, and such a volatile economy, there is still plenty of time for the veteran senator to regain his footing. He will hammer on the perception a steady, experienced leader is needed in such times of crisis.
When the media is not focusing on the bailout, they may be talking more this week about the vice presidential candidates than the top of the ticket.
The much-anticipated vice presidential debate is set for Thursday, Oct. 2, at 8 p.m. Palin and Joe Biden will meet at Washington University in St. Louis and take questions from Gwen Ifill of PBS.
Race: Eyes turn to VP candidates this week