Uh oh…

Former Gov. Tom Ridge and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman stepped off the “Straight Talk Express” bus, which rolled right into the arena as the concert-quality sound system blasted out the Rocky theme. Sen. Arlen Specter had warmed up the crowd with an appearance that hadn’t been announced in pre-event publicity.

“It may very well be that the election is decided in Pennsylvania,” Specter said, and predicted that McCain’s “record of independence” would prove “very appealing” in suburban Philadelphia, a region that has tilted heavily toward Democrats in recent years.

McCain could have added Lindsey Graham and Olympia Snowe and formed a basketball team called the Moderate Milquetoasts. Showing up at a campaign rally with Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman, and Arlen Specter is not exactly showing the flag to conservatives who are about ready to walk away from the Presidential side of the election. Not that he cares. Barack Obama wasn’t the first candidate in this election to have his very own special salute. John McCain’s had one for ten years that he’s used on conservatives called “The Finger”.

Still, McCain gave a pretty rousing speech, especially when he talked about standing in solidarity with beleaguered Georgia (and his speech played very well in Georgia, too). If the important issues to you in this election are running hard toward foreign policy and not so much toward domestic stuff, then Johnny Mac said a lot of things to make you happy. If you’re 50-50 on things, then you still have some pretty serious areas of concern.