Marc Ambinder came across a revealing internal McCain memo that lists the campaign's upcoming September strategy in "four phases":

The first phase of our September strategy is to take ownership of the surge and demonstrate again that John McCain is the only candidate running for President who is prepared to be Commander-in-Chief from day one

After laying down the marker as the only candidate in the race prepared to be Commander-in-Chief from day one, we will highlight John McCain's record of reform and his often lonely fight in Congress against wasteful spending and earmarks, against corruption and for stronger ethics accountability, and for real institutional reform to decrease the size of government and make it work effectively.

Ambinder notes that "This isn't one of those internal memos meant for public consumption." That probably comes through in the memo's language to "take ownership" of the surge.

It's still not all that surprising, though, that McCain is planning on "owning" September. As I argue here, if McCain can't gain traction this month, it's hard to see how he can keep going. Reid Wilson took the opposing view that Fred Thompson needs a better month than McCain here.