When faced with a floundering campaign, a presidential nominee that vacillates between his declaration that the “fundamentals of the economy are strong” to declaring it a national crisis, putting his campaign on hold and returning to Washington as “sheriff” to fix the ails of the economy to a vice-presidential nominee that can’t respond to Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric in a thoughtful manner, fret not. Pimp out your daughter and continue to create media spectacle that will distract the American population from silly issues like the economy, foreign policy and energy independence (coal? Nuclear? No thanks!).

Sarah Baxter reported yesterday:

“Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”