He Takes My Breath Away

He’s strutting, he’s swaggering, he’s building up to a full-on Village People extravaganza during these last few days:

President Bush turned his Marine One chopper into a campaign prop Saturday and used it to drop in on huge crowds at three stadiums around Florida, at a time of concern in his campaign about his failure to gain a decisive lead in the most crucial battlegrounds.

[…]

The commander in chief landed at the ballparks to the strains of the “Top Gun” theme, his most dramatic use of a military asset since he rode a fighter jet onto an aircraft carrier 17 months ago to declare the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

[…]

During Bush’s chopper swing, a huge banner in the outfield of City of Palms Park, in Fort Myers, showed an image of the military helicopter with the slogan “Soaring to Victory.” His departing chopper flew over the crowd of 11,000, so close that the president and Laura Bush could be seen waving.

[…]

The other chopper rallies were in Lakeland and Melbourne. Bush’s finale was a rally for 25,000 or more at Alltel Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars and site of next February’s Super Bowl. Bush spoke from a lectern on the 50-yard line. He arrived amid rock-concert-style smoke and departed to fireworks.

Here’s why they seem to have called in Bruckheimer to stage the campaign stops (in an apparent homage to Coppolla’s seminal Playboy bunny scene in Apocalypse Now):

GOP officials who talked to Bush-Cheney campaign leaders said the leaders have grown more worried about Ohio, Florida and other key states where Bush lacks a lead with just 10 days until the election. A poll by Ohio University’s Scripps Survey Research Center, completed Thursday night, found Kerry leading 49 percent to 43 percent among registered voters, with a margin of error of five percentage points.

[…]

The Republican official said polling for Bush showed him in a weaker position than some published polls have indicated, both nationally and in battlegrounds. In many of the key states, the official said, Bush is below 50 percent, and he is ahead or behind within the margin of sampling error — a statistical tie.

“There’s just no place where they’re polling outside the margin of error so they can say, ‘We have this state,’ ” the official said. “And they know that an incumbent needs to be outside the margin of error.”

Look for leather chaps, tight sailor bells, maybe even a great big tool belt these next two days. He’s in the Danger Zone, allright.

Update: Check out The Talent Show for Bush’s Halloween Surprise.