News-Record.com

Update: Click here for the story from Tuesday's paper.

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I trucked down to Wilmington for John McCain’s appearance there today. I had forgotten how well the man can deliver a speech because his debate performances have been very average. But today, he was in good form and had the crowd fired up.

There’s one odd thing that had my colleagues in the local and national media puzzled after the event. From the story I’m working on for Tuesday’s paper:

McCain’s appearance was marked by an unannounced shift in plans. The occasion was to be a “town hall meeting” according to publicity that preceded the event. And McCain himself started his remarks by saying, “My friends, I’d like to make some remarks to you and then I’d like to open it up for some questions or comments you might have.”

But at the end of his speech, speakers blared “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme from Rocky, and McCain moved about the front rows of the audience shaking hands. Then he left the auditorium, well before the next appointment - a media interview - listed on the schedule given to members of the traveling press.

A spokesman who talked to pool reporters traveling with the McCain Monday said the decision to shift to a rally rather than a town hall meeting was made on Sunday and could not explain why McCain said he would take questions. A second spokesman, contacted after the event, said the campaign wanted to emphasize the new speech, which offered “a different tone” than had prevailed over the past several weeks.

The response from the campaign isn’t all that satisfying and leaves one to speculate if one is so inclined. What could explain the change? So options:

• * McCain was short on time. This seems unlikely because, according to my friends in the traveling press corps, he didn’t have anything on his public schedule until well after he strolled out of the auditorium at Cape Fear Community College today. He did two media interviews (both with television types) and shot a commercial before leaving the state.

• * McCain forgot about the switch. Actually, I’m willing to buy this one in part. The guy has done so many events his opening lines become sort of reflexive. He was working from a teleprompter today but it sounded like he was adlibbing a bit at the beginning of his speech. Still, you’d think someone on staff would have said, “Now remember boss, today’s all about the new stump speech, no questions.”

• * The audience might not have accommodated that "different tone" and once the campaign workers took the temperature of the crowd they decided it didn’t want to give anyone openings to call Sen. Obama a terrorist.

As the Associated Press noted in this story, even some Republicans have grown uncomfortable with the tenor of attacks leveled by McCain at Obama in recent weeks. From the AP story:

NDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Three weeks before the election, Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about John McCain's ability to mount a comeback, questioning his tactics and even his campaign's main thrust in a White House race increasingly focused on economic turmoil.

"He has to make the case that he's different than Bush and better than Obama on the economy," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of more than a dozen prominent Republicans who in interviews during the past week expressed concern over the course of McCain's bid. "If he doesn't win that case, it's all over, and it's going to be a very bad year for Republicans."

Several Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid angering McCain, said the campaign should have sought to plant doubts about Obama's associations with 1960s-era radical William Ayers and others months ago, rather than waiting until the campaign's final weeks. Doing so now, they said, makes the 72-year-old McCain come off as angry, grouchy and desperate, playing into Democrats' hands.

But if you read my blog post from earlier today, you know there were people in the crowd willing to sing from that more hostile hymnal.

So what was going on? Was it a last minute switch designed to avoid stories about how rabid the crowds at McCain rallies have become or truly contemplated a day in advance and McCain just misspoke? Well, more than one person told me today that it was fruitless to ask since, as one put it bluntly, “They’re all going to lie to you anyway.”

Your speculation welcome at the comments link below.