Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Big week ahead. The first debate is Friday night. There will be a fierce effort by the McCain campaign to lower expectations. But, some initial research showed me that McCain won a lot of the GOP debates in 2007 and earlier this year. Lots of pundits, from Chuck Todd to Chris Cillizza, praised McCain's debating skills. So, they better not start buying the spin now. They're already on the record about McCain being a very strong debater.

The BIG news, and I mean BIG news, is the revelation that Fannie and Freddie paid McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, $2 million for access to McCain. The McCain campaign tried to exploit the tenuous ties between Obama and the former CEO of Fannie Mae -- a charge which has been widely disabused. Once McCain's campaign raised the issue, it was like poking a hornet's nest. Former staffers from Fannie and Freddie want the Rick Davis story told. So, it's McCain who is getting stung. Rick Davis is going to have to quit or be fired. He's fast becoming one of the poster boys for the greed and excess that has destroyed our economy. And, Davis should give that money back. NOW.

It's going to be a wild week....