Obama's Lead: Growing, Growing. . .

This race is a long way from over, but even arch-conservative Charles Krauthammer seems to see the writing on the wall:

You can't blame McCain. In an election in which all the fudamentals are working for the opposition, he feels he has to keep throwing long in order to keep hope alive. Nonetheless, his frenetic improvisation has perversely (for him) framed the rookie challenger favorably as calm, stead and cool...

...he's [Obama has] got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president.

Snap polls show independent voters prefered Obama over McCain, and Biden over Palin (yes, even Fox viewers saw it that way). McCain has now ceded Michigan, much to Palin's dismay (amazing what you learn when you read the newspaper).

Here's what the latest national polls say:

Gallup:

Obama 49%
McCain 42%

Rasmussen:

Obama 51%
McCain 44%

Hotline/Diageo:

Obama 48%
McCain 42%

Reasearch 2000:

Obama 51%
McCain 40%

As far as trend-lines go, here's Pollster.com's handy chart.



The McCain campaign now says that it will focus on three states to attain victory: Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. According to the RCP polling average, Obama currently leads in Minnesota by 5.0%. McCain also trails in Wisconsin by 5.0%, and is back 7.9% in Pennsylvania. RCP rates all three as leaning blue. I know, I know, they're only polls.

It ain't over till it's over, so we'll have no complacency or resignation until after all is said and done.