Nothing is Over!

The election is over?

At least, that appears to be the consensus. Over at The Flack, the outstanding new blog by former Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson, Wolfson argues that using Bill Ayers won’t save the McCain campaign. Indeed, Wolfson argues that in today’s economic climate, nothing can save McCain. It is, Wolfson agures, finis.

Wolfson is not alone. More and more pundits and serious journalists — and even some Republicans — are already calling the election for Obama.

It’s stunning how quickly recent history is forgotten.

Let’s go back to this point in the campaign eight years ago. George W. Bush was in command. He was going to win, period. The election, one week out, was pretty much over. Then word of a long-forgotten, never-really-admitted arrest came to light, and in the very closing days, the election became incredibly tight overnight.

Of course, we know what happened in the 2000 election and the post-election scrum in Florida. But many Bush and Gore campaign veterans will tell you that if there were two or three more days in the campaign, another state or two would have gone to Gore.

Campaign history is filled with examples of campaigns deemed to be over that didn’t follow the lines of conventional wisdom. In the 1984 Senate race in North Carolina, much of the media called the race before it had even started. “Barring an act of God, Jesse Helms can’t win,” The Washington Post declared at the outset of the election. The Post never did declare his stunning come-from-behind victory as “act of God,” but Helms did win.

Given the twists and turns this crazy election cycle has already gone through — Barack Obama coming on strong and showing Hillary Clinton was not inevitable by winning the Iowa caucus and a string of Super Tuesday victories; Hillary Clinton doggedly fighting and defeating Obama in several states despite the press saying it was over; the raucous Democratic National Committee meeting in May where Clinton supporters threatened a floor fight for the nomination, chanting “Denver! Denver! Denver!” — you’d be hard-pressed to make any pronouncement on the order of “It’s over.”

And let’s not forget, things were just as bizarre on the Republican side — John McCain was considered “toast” this time last year, Fred Thompson was a front-runner before announcing his campaign and then only ran for president for about a week, not to mention the Mike Huckabee/Chuck Norris Express that picked up considerable steam.

No one saw any of this happening. This campaign has been so breathtakingly unpredictable, it’s shocking to think anyone would call it over before Election Day. Heck, why would anyone want to?

Folks, there is a long way to go, including one final debate between McCain and Obama. With 27 days left in the campaign, the current Diageo/Hotline Daily Tracking Poll has a one-point race, 45-44 for Obama.

The election is over? Nothing is over!