Seems that there was a deal agreed to by the bipartisan participants hashing this out over the past few days and it was announced, I first heard, about one o’clock by a Republican involved in the meetings. By five o’clock I tuned back in and saw that the deal wasn’t done! What happened?

So I turned on CNN and they showed this time line of John McCain’s day and, with his activities highlighted, showed how he and his campaign came into town and threw a monkey wrench into the whole situation.

There was also an interview with Chris Dodd on the subject and he was very distressed over these developments. Anybody hear any more to clarify?

This country is in a really dark place, and we need a leader. The Daschles, Fiorinas, Pawlentys and Braziles can hurl memorable and witty insults back and forth until they”re blue. They have equal ability to bloviate hollow key messages and fail to answer questions. They aren”t hurting each other so much as they are hurting us.

If the candidates themselves have something negative to say (and I don”t mean pithy stump lines, I mean the kind of bile that their surrogates spew) – let”s hear them say it. If they can sit under hot television lights and brutally disassemble the character of the other – let”s see it. Then we can hold them accountable for it.

Why don”t they do it? Because it is conduct unbecoming a leader and, well, because so much of it is simply not true. Keep them from hiding behind their pitbulls (lipsticked or not) to the degree that they are, and I”m betting the campaign would take a dramatically more positive and issues-driven turn. Stand down the surrogate armies, and turn up the substance.

Both campaigns need the right spokesperson. The Top of the Ticket.

All aboard!