Indeed, according to the RealClearPolitics average of recent major polls in Iowa, McCain trails Sen. Barack Obama by 11.4 percentage points. Both McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin visited Iowa as recently as Saturday. However, with just five days until Election Day, neither Republican candidate is currently scheduled a return visit in the state before Tuesday.

This isn’t the first time Murphy has blasted the McCain campaign for continuing to pursue Iowa. Earlier this month, Murphy wrote that the strategists running the campaign were “stunningly incompetent” for allowing McCain to take part in a disastrous interview with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register. Murphy’s most recent comments illustrate the growing concerns of many within the GOP that McCain is headed for electoral defeat — and they make a great headline.

What the Hell was McCain even doing there in the first place?

1.) Obama is going to win Iowa.

2.) Editorial board meetings are usually pure trouble to begin with and result only in newspaper endorsements that persuade very few voters beyond the immediate family members of the editorial board.

3.) Within the rarified category of newspaper editorial boards, the Des Moines Register is one of the most liberal in the country. I’m rather surprised that halfway through the McCain interview they failed to switch over to Esperanto, the peace-loving language of all nations.

So, 35 days left and McCain is in Iowa? Why put McCain in the wrong state, at the wrong place? No surprise the result is the wrong message and the wrong tone.

According to RealClearPolitics, Obama leads McCain in Iowa by an average of 9.2 points in major polls — and the Website lists Iowa as “solid” for Obama. Perhaps some in the McCain campaign still see an opportunity to turn that around in the next month.

But the fact that an experienced hand like Murphy is saying this so publicly is surely raising some eyebrows in the Republican Party.