When your candidate is one the wrong side of nearly every issue, you better hope the election comes down to personalities.

WaPo:

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

Davis added that issues will no doubt play a major role in the decisions undecided voters will make but that they won't ultimately be conclusive. He added that the campaign has "ultimate faith" in the idea that the more voters get to know McCain and Barack Obama, the better the Republican nominee will do.

Unsurprisingly, our own Jon Perr predicted this back in May.

Scorned on Issues, GOP Tries to Manufacture 'Character Gap":

A flood of recent polls suggests the 2008 election will once again display
the "Iron Law" of 21st century Republican presidential politics. That is,
with Americans showing an overwhelming preference for Democratic positions across virtually the entire spectrum of issues, the GOP has to make the race about something else. This year as in 2000 and 2004, the Republicans will try to turn the race into a presidential personality contest. And to win it, they need to manufacture a "character gap" between John McCain and Barack Obama.

The Obama camp unloads on Davis:

"We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change."