"One Day To Go" Stories

The candidates are "Battling On All Fronts With One Day To Go," the New York Times reports today....from a distance.

"It has been months since Mr. Obama has ventured with any regularity to the back of his plane where the journalists sit," writes Jeff Zeleny in the Times's A-1 "One Day To Go" Obama piece. And, from Elisabeth Bumiller's front-page McCain piece: "The national reporters he once called his 'base' remain banished in the back; aides say he is convinced they are all rooting for Mr. Obama."

So banished, Bumiller and Zeleny report what the candidates' aides and advisers say... about what the candidate is doing in these final hours, about their states of mind, and about their bedtime routines.

Zeleny:

And before bedtime on most nights, Mr. Obama needs to “circle and land,” as one of his advisers put it, by finishing a round of e-mail and calls before turning out the lights.

Bumiller:

Mr. McCain turns on ESPN and relaxes after rallies that blast out “Life Is a Highway” and other campaign anthems.

“It’s like being in a rock band,” Mr. [Lindsey] Graham said. “You do your gig, and you’ve got to wind down a little bit.”

Mr. McCain takes an Ambien if he needs one...

(Relatedly, Sen. Lindsey Graham is "like campaign Prozac" is how McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace chose to describe the effect Graham's friendship and presence has on McCain et al).