Like the Seconds from disaster show on National Geographic I think two things happened that contributed to the McCain disaster. McCain would have won this election if only they could have somehow pushed this catastrophic market event past november. What really killed McCain's chance was his choice of palin and the sudden market collapse. The two combined were fatal. Obviously Palin is out of her league, if McCain would have picked someone with a grasp of economics and some education things would have been closer in the end. Palin was like the hot chick that got the party excited but the more she spoke the less attractive she became.
It's more than just a McCain disaster, the Republican party is going down in flames this election. Their entire philosophy, from "family values" to "fiscal conservatism" to "trickling down" actually working, has (for most people) been discredited, leaving them nothing to run on except feigned outrage and angry outbursts.
STRESS BY GALLUP: OBAMA +2 All the money, all the press, all the spin, the lies, and this is the best you can do? Sorry. You lose.
The irony of the whole thing is if McCain could have forseen this market situation I bet he would have chosen a different running mate.