Mark Halperin’s Three Things

Mark Halperin's three things to watch for in presidential politics for Thursday, October 30.

1. Watch to see what message the Republicans try to drive against Barack Obama today. Yesterday they put out lots of different messages — attacking Obama as a socialist, as inexperienced, as weak on national security and more. Watch to see if they can settle on just one or two messages to try to define Obama in the final five days of the race.
2. Watch the national and key state polling data. The NBC/Mason Dixon poll out today has the race closer in Pennsylvania, with Obama leading 47% to 43% with a 4% margin of error. Many more polls are coming today. Watch to see if McCain can argue that he’s got some winning combination to get to 270 electoral votes based on trends in states and nationally.
3. Watch to see both McCain and Obama doing more television interviews. Obama interviews will air on tonight’s NBC “Nightly News” and MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Watch to see who’s driving a clearer message. Watch to see if they look like they feel confident about the outcome or if it’s still up in the air.