If I were advising John McCain – you’ll have to use your imagination here – I would tell him to go after Barack Obama on taxes and spending. Millions of Americans don’t trust the Democratic Party when it come to fiscal restraint, and this would be a good time to remind them.

I know. McCain is behind in the polls, and the conventional wisdom decrees that he needs to do something dramatic, but this debate occurs only hours after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 733 points. When people are losing sleep because they are worried about their economic futures, trying to nail Obama for his past association with onetime radical William Ayers risks being perceived as a political stunt and a distraction.

Does this mean McCain won’t attack Obama for the Ayers connection? I don’t have a clue. His campaign has been nothing if not unpredictable.