Adam Nagourney reports on the front page of today's Times that down-ticket Republicans are getting an eensy-bit nervous about the coming election:

After a turbulent week that included disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin and signs that Senator John McCain was struggling to strike the right tone for his campaign, Republican leaders said Saturday that they were worried Mr. McCain was heading for defeat unless he brought stability to his presidential candidacy and settled on a clear message to counter Senator Barack Obama.

McCain hasn't settled on a clear message? Now I'm not privy to the inner workings of the campaign, but that doesn't mean McCain's message isn't coming through loud and clear. As we enter the homestretch, I'd say it's something like this:
"Barack Obama is a dangerous friend of terrorists (who may or may not be Muslim, at least judging by his middle name, which is Hussein in case you hadn't heard) and an honorable family man though certainly not an Arab and while we don't know who the real Barack Obama is he certainly wants to raise your taxes and surrender in Iraq and put his campaign before his country because he's dangerously inexperienced and superliberal but we shouldn't be afraid of having him as our President even though he would meet with dictators and chase Osama Bin Laden across the border into Pakistan which shows his dangerous naivete, and of course John McCain would be a much better choice for President, because he puts country first and would be a steady hand at the tiller during this worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in which the fundamentals of our economy our strong (that's you, Joe Sixpack-- you're a fundamental!), so strong that I'll suspend my campaign and threaten to skip the first debate unless we get a deal and rush back to Washington and go to a meeting where I won't say much and then go to the debate even though the deal isn't done because I'm the only candidate in this race with the experience as a real maverick to bring the change that Washington needs like offering a capital gains tax-cut to help out the middle class. Oh, and did I mention I'm a POW?" Of course, that's the message right now. It could change tomorrow. But that's okay, because John McCain knows the difference between strategy and tactics. I mean, just look at the campaign he's been running.