All he wants to do is to talk about the financial crisis, except of course that when he had the chance to do that in front of millions, he had nothing to offer except the stalest, most banal talking points.

In any case, I’m intrigued that he’s calling Maverick gutless, as it pretty much obliges McCain to come after him during Wednesday’s debate. Why he’d want to force an issue into the discussion that could hurt him escapes me, unless (a) their internal polling shows that Ayers is a total non-issue, of which I’m skeptical, or (b) he figures McCain’s going to come after him anyway and he might as well throw a punch now. The new Gallup’s just out, incidentally; I’m guessing the answer’s (a). Click the image to watch.

Update: Yeah, probably (a).

Update: Dave Weigel notes that Ayers has already been an issue in a few swing states and hasn’t paid dividends. Which is true, but there’s a huge difference in amplitude coming from McCain himself than from some 527 ad.