Palin Pushback

A plethora of polls favor Obama, who has clearly gotten a bounce from the Wall Street mess and the first debate.

CBS has Obama up 49-40: "Mr. Obama's favorability rating, at 48 percent, is the highest it has ever been in polls conducted by CBS and The New York Times. At the same time, the number of voters who hold an unfavorable view of Mr. McCain -- 42 percent -- is as high as it has been since the CBS News and The Times began asking the question about Mr. McCain in 1999, the first time he ran for president."

Time gives Obama a 50-43 lead, propelled by concerns over the financial crisis and a return of support from female voters.

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when Obama was slipping in the polls and various Dems (and liberal pundits) were urging him to go on the attack against McCain? Now that the pendulum has swung against McCain, we're seeing similar advice from his party's second-guessers, as we see in this Politico piece:

"John McCain's fade in recent polls, combined with a barrage of negative news coverage during the financial crisis, has leading Republican activists around the country worrying about his prospects and urging his campaign to become much more aggressive against Barack Obama in the remaining month before Election Day.

"A flurry of new polls shows Barack Obama gaining in several battleground states -- most notably Florida, Pennsylvania and swing states throughout the West. Officials worry early voting, which is under way in important states such as Ohio, is likely to favor Obama in this toxic political climate. Several state GOP chairmen in interviews urged the McCain campaign to be more aggressive in hitting Obama's vulnerabilities, such as his past relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other problematic associations from Chicago.

"But as September turns to October -- Wednesday marks 34 days to the Nov. 4 election -- it is clear McCain himself is to blame for the most urgent problems. His snap decision to throw himself into the bailout debate has proven disastrous, since his efforts looked late and half-hearted, and many in the GOP ignored his pleas in Monday's House vote.

"And his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, initially a political boon, has become a distraction inside and out of the campaign, with top staff now sidelined trying to avoid a debate disaster on Thursday night, officials close to the campaign say."

The Senate last night showed the House how it's done:

"In stark contrast to the House rejection of the plan on Monday, a bipartisan coalition of senators -- including both presidential candidates -- showed no hesitation in backing a proposal that had drawn public scorn, though the outpouring eased somewhat after a market plunge followed the House defeat," the New York Times reports. "The Senate margin was 74 to 25 in favor of the White House initiative to buy troubled securities in an effort to avoid an economic catastrophe." (Note: Don't tell McCain, but it's got plenty of pork, such as $6 million for the makers of kids' wooden arrows.)

Which will have a bigger impact on the campaign -- whether the House cobbles together a coalition that can pull the economy back from the cliff, or whether Palin cobbles together a decent performance at tonight's debate?

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, "Reliable Sources."