The last two days have been a mixed bag for the McCain campaign.

On the positive side, new polls show McCain either running dead even with Barack Obama or perhaps even slightly ahead of him going into the convention stretch. This means that McCain has managed to make up some ground—as much as 10 points in some polls—over the relatively slow summer period.

On the negative side, McCain had a Dukakis moment yesterday when a reporter asked him how many houses he owns and he was only able to say, “I’m not sure, I’ll have to check with my staff.“

It was a made-for-viral-video moment, and it wasn’t but just a few hours before Obama had turned it into a sound bite, VP prospect and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was on the offensive and the Obama campaign had turned the awkward exchange into its newest ad.

This is the kind of careless, unnecessary gaffe that McCain simply cannot afford to make as the candidates round the corner out of the conventions and head into the heart of the general election campaign. There are going to be plenty of rough days when the candidates are going to be forced to deal with difficult issues; they can do themselves a favor by not creating for themselves any more problems than they will already face.

McCain’s campaign ended the day on a positive note when it announced that it would be setting up shop outside the Democratic National Convention to swat down and refute the positions advanced during the event. From Fox News:

There will be daily press conferences with key McCain supporters and advisers, tentatively including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele.

Plus the campaign intends to release a flurry of ads and Web videos throughout the week to compete with Democrats’ message.

The McCain campaign is rightly choosing to keep its candidate’s schedule light next week (it would be a bad move to have him at events and then have to answer questions about turnout if those events are sparsely attended). And by setting up camp outside the DNC and determining not to let the Democrats’ message go unchallenged, the Republicans will manage to find a way—every day—into the news cycle that would otherwise all but exclude them for at least five days.

Now, let’s get Obama a No. 2, get the happy coterie to Denver and let the festivities begin!