“Tell them to come back and get to work!” John McCain yelled out. “Tell them to get to work!”

This was at a biker rally in South Dakota where McCain was wooing the crowd by demanding that Congress return to Washington and do something about the energy crisis. Demanding that Congress come back from vacation to do something is a time-honored political gambit. But is it the best line of attack for a senator who last showed up for a vote himself back in early spring? Perhaps not.

Also, there was the problem of tone. McCain has sometimes been charged with sounding like a cranky neighbor yelling at kids to get off the lawn. This time, he turned into a cranky neighbor who hires you to cut his grass and then follows you around, pointing out blades that you missed.

This is energy week on the campaign trail. In honor of the critical nature of the debate, let’s try to clear our heads of all thoughts of Paris Hilton ads, and questions of whether McCain knew, when he expressed a yen to see his wife compete in the bikers’ Miss Buffalo Chip beauty contest, that the contestants frequently went topless.

Issues. It’s all about issues.

Both McCain and Barack Obama have spent the last few days wandering around the country, scowling at gas pumps and talking up their energy plans. McCain dubbed his The Lexington Project. Obama’s seems to be called New Energy for America. If these guys really cared, wouldn’t they have come up with better names? But we digress.