McCain and Palin and the uphill struggle

My latest column for the FT notices the role inversion apparent in the race so far.

Mr McCain finds himself in a curious position. He entered the race as an experienced and well-known candidate, much-liked, with years in the Senate behind him. He was running against a virtually unknown novice, with barely any legislative achievements to boast of - and a black man with a funny name, to boot. Mr McCain was the known quantity, the safer choice, literally the elder statesman and Mr Obama had everything to prove. Yet with four weeks to go, the election is being run by both sides as though the opposite were true.

Read on here. (Noting the illustration, a friend asks, how come they've got paddles?)