There's definitely a palpable sense of panic out there. It's of course a byproduct of the old media script that's being repeated throughout the broadcast day: Democrats weak. Republicans strong. Adding: oh noes! the Republicans mean guys -- attacking us next week -- make Obama look small and gay.
Some things to remember though...
1) Most voters are watching network coverage after 10PM. The downside is that they've missed speeches by Governor Schweitzer and Congressman Leach, for example. The upside is that these voters/viewers aren't seeing much -- if any -- of the Buchanan/Scarborough/Murphy wingnut show.
2) There's a reason why Senator Clinton spoke last night and won't be accepting the nomination tomorrow night. The Obama campaign, contrary to the script, isn't as "weak" as is being alleged by McCain operatives in the press.
3) I have a feeling that next week isn't going to be the lockstep trains-on-time meat slicer it's being made out to be.
However... and this is a big however... If there's no bounce going into Friday's McCain show, then we should probably circle the wagons. And the Obama campaign had better find it's best surrogates -- train them on a series of knockout talking points, and arm them with rapid-response aides -- and camp them out near the press tents in the Twin Cities next week.
UPDATE: And that's almost exactly what they're planning to do.