G. Frink's

This morning's Dow Industrials plunge tells us more about the direction of this presidential campaign than the campaign news itself.

The party in power is always hurt by an economic downturn at election time, and Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain married himself to it with his campaign suspension stunt, with its ineffectual return to Washington.

The result has been a for this campaign unprecedented divergence in approval ratings, with Obama's rising sharply and McCain's falling away like a rock into a well. This change heralds a shift of middle class voters to Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama that was accelerated by the first presidential debate when Obama dealt with middle class concerns and McCain did not.

Going harshly negative is the McCain campaign's desperate and, in the view of statistical analyst Nate Silver, probably doomed attempt to turn the public conversation away from the economy.

Because economic collapse in a time of Republican national political stewardship is the central fact of campaign life and public debate, the attacks tend to be seen as irrelevant and desperate.

As a result, their principal harm is to the attackers. Most of the damage done by McCain's resort to a drumbeat of references attempting to link Obama to University of Chicago education professor Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and to make other negative connections, is to the Republican cause. Or, if you prefer the argot of Web 2.0, the Republican brand.

Not just the McCain campaign.

Republicanism in general.

Update

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted over the weekend showed Obama not only leading but also leading among independent voters -- a group which had previously favored McCain.

Oh, and The New Yorker in its special "politics issue" endorsed Obama.