Spin Cycle

McCain is apparently planning to try to pull off a campaign appearance on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico to talk about offshore drilling -- he claimed today that Bush's support of offshore drilling had forced down prices by $10 a barrel -- and to draw attention away from the European leg of Obama's trip.

This comes on top of the plan to air a radio ad in towns called Berlin.

Has Tribune idea man Lee Abrams gone to work for McCain? (Sorry, that's an inside joke).

Seriously, though: We gather that the McCain troops are concerned about the trajectory of the race. But winning a single day's news cycle in July just isn't that important.

Bush lifting the offshore drilling ban, clearing one hurdle for oil that would arrive in five years at the earliest, did not singlehandedly push the price down by $10. Even the White House doesn't say that!

And if a million people show up to hear Obama in Berlin, McCain isn't going to trump it from an oil platform -- unless he plans to climb to the top, strip down to his skivvies and execute a reverse double flip into the Gulf.

Update: It's off! McCain's planned platform visit cancelled due to weather.