Update: McCain is forced to defend Arizona

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

With a spate of recent polls showing McCain's lead in Arizona only 2% to 8% depending upon likely voter or registered voter models, Arizona has moved into the tossup state category.

So the McNasty campaign started making robocalls on Wednesday in Arizona. You know, the malicious smear calls that McCain said of the Bush campaign in South Carolina in 2000 that they deserved a special place in hell. Yeah, turns out he hired the very same guys to make his robocalls. There's room in hell for you too, John.

From Talking Points Memo McCain Now Running Robocalls Attacking Obama In Home State Of Arizona!:

McCain's robocall, which was played to us over the phone by Mary Joe Bartel, a retiree who lives south of Tucson, attacks Obama as unprepared to defend the country from terrorism, singling out Joe Biden's recent remarks about the likelihood of Obama being tested by an international crisis early in his first term.

Here's the script:

I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because Barack Obama is so dangerously inexperienced, his running mate Joe Biden just said, he invites a major international crisis that he will be unprepared to handle alone.

If Democrats win full control of government, they will want to give civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the experience and judgment to lead America. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and authorized by McCain-Palin 2008.

Two other Arizona readers — David Lorti, a Phoenix realtor, and Jerry Mooers, a retiree from Sun Lakes — confirm to us that they received the same call today.

John McCain will be holding his last political rally on Monday night not in one of the critical battleground states, but in Prescott, Arizona, trying to defend against an embarrassing loss in his home state.

The Obama campaign is considering sending campaign surrogates, if not one of the candidates, to Arizona for the GOTV effort. A little birdie told me that DNC Chairman Howard Dean may be visiting Arizona on Monday. Any event announcements are likely to be very last minute.

The Obama campaign also has a new ad up mocking the McCain robocall effort and calling upon his supporters to fully engage in the massive GOTV effort this Friday through Tuesday. If you have not yet volunteered, what are you waiting for?  Now is the time to take back America.

The Obama campaign is also going up on the air this weekend in Arizona with this ad: