I find those numbers troubling. I would be devasted to have to endure another presidency in the mold of the current one. But, I am looking forward to the debates with great hope. I think that the differences between Obama and McCain will be made clear when the two actually get together onstage. I have great confidence that Obama will show up McCain. I think that one to one comparison will make it starkly clear that given a choice between a young, intelligent and charismatic candidate and an old, obtuse and unpredictable one, the public will see that Obama is definitely the one to vote for.

That question deserves one simple response:

ha ha

A 5-point lead? This particular week? With 12 percent undecided--the largest number of undecided in any poll in the last two months? And Zogby, the least dependable pollster in recent history? Worse than even the Bush-boot-licking Rasmussen?

John McCain? Winning?

ha ha

Only in his mind. There, and only there.

People were crazy for obama when they knew little about him. The more familiar they are with him the less acceptable he becomes. He was a blank slate they could draw any pictures they wanted on. Now they see what he really is, it's too late. The Democrats had a good candidate, but the supers have all been bought off. obama is the Democratic George W Bush and we really can't afford this right now. I hope Kennedy, Kerry, & company are pleased with themselves because at least half of the Democratic party sure isn't.

...count their chickens before the sky falls down.

More clucking from the media.

In a one man race, McCain can win?

Obviously if such a bounce sticks, Barak will be scolded for not being public during the Olympics. The Georgian Crisis has definatly helped McCain, and that Obama was pretty much unseen during it has hurt him.

That being said, Obama's back, going into the convention, and as we know, McCain has his biggest problems when he stops being the underdog.

I know we'll get the usual hand wringing and I told you sos, but I still have to look at the general polling on the electoral map, which puts Obama comfortably ahead at 284 in safe and lean states to McCain's 169 safe and lean.

The negative attacks and McCain's POW immunity card seem to be a great treasure for him, we'll just have to see if it carries through to November or if it starts to turn off independents as the election approaches.

It's all about the independents and where they break. The state to watch this year is Ohio is still the state to watch, since Obama has only a 3.4% average lead there, but that's still a significant lead, all thing considered.

If the american people see through John McCain's Pandering and Baseless Attacks, Obama will walk into the whitehouse. If they fall for it, well, let's just hope they don't fall for it.

Saturday we get the Veep Bounce, and I expect a double turning of the keys on this one. I think Obama's choice will not significantly effect his lead unless he picks Clinton, in which case I do expect a large bump. Not that his other choices aren't good, just that Clinton will be such a shock as to throw the electorate off balance and have them give this new team a second look. McCain however, I think wil be at a loss regardless of his choice. If he picks a pro-choice conservative, he'll alienate the religous base he's been pandering to, if he picks a pro-life conservative he'll hurt himself among independents which are the key constituancy.

The McCain brand requires out of the box thinking to work, if he satisfies the republican base however he breaks the brand, if he satisfies the brand he kills his base.

Obama has no such similar difficulty. The Obama brand is rational change and progresivness, you can stick any Democrat into that mold and make it work. No choice hurts him and some choices help him, it's just a question of how much help he needs.

"Obama's going to need to figure out a way to recover some of his momentum..." You've got this one right, for sure.

Obama has been in a fundamentally reactive posture since before the last series of (losing) primary contests against Hillary. Much refinement and sidling toward the 'center', much pummeling by the pre-emptive strikers of the right, much one-step-behind following up on issues and ads, all with concomitant ongoing effacement of the persona.

The international trip was a brilliant success in itself, but it was accompanied by exactly no follow-up, which could have and should have overcome the successful, well-prepared denigration that erased it at home. And, significantly, no telling blows have yet been landed on McCain.

At the same time, the campaign has received huge funding from large numbers of people desperate to escape the unimaginable disaster of a McCain presidency. How about spending some of it? Once again, it's beginning to look like the Dems just don't know how to play the national game.

Seriously, sometimes it's an embarassment to be a Democrat. Our party cannibalizes itself every election while the Republicans goose-step their way to victory. When we win, it almost seems despite our best efforts to prevent it.

I was an Obama supporter in the primary and still am. But if Hillary had won the primary, I would have supported her over McCain or any of the Republican candidates. You seem almost gleeful about the prospect of a McCain victory in November. If you are, in fact, a Democrat/progressive, your best hope lies with Barack Obama. Otherwise, get ready for another 4 to 8 years of the s***storm that we've just been through.

You may feel that Hillary got a raw deal in the press, resulting in her loss. Or that the delegates she got in the states with primary should have counted more than the caucus state delegates won by her opponent. But it's over and she isn't the nominee.

Obama isn't perfect and will surely disappoint. But given the alternatives before us, he is clearly the superior choice.

Join the rest of us in the real world.