Who dealt it?

The McCain campaign accused Obama of 'playing the race card,' while many supportive of Obama argued that the McCain campaign was playing the race card by accusing Obama of doing so. Here, Andrea Mitchell questions McCain's manager, Rick Davis, on this and on the negative tone of the campaign in recent weeks.



As I think is clear from this post by Dan Balz, the McCain campaign can't lose on this one: so long as people are talking about which man played the race card, the focus of campaign coverage is on race, undercutting Obama's efforts to present himself as a candidate whose race is not his sole defining feature. Whether Obama was trying to suggest that the McCainiacs were playing the race card or not, the move by Davis to accuse Obama of doing so likely is the first victory for the campaign in weeks. It isn't clear who is paying attention as we enter the last month of summer, but the topic of conversation has shifted back to race rather than the alleged desperation of the McCain campaign and the low-road they have taken since the turn to Rove disciples at the start of July.