2 points.  That's what McCain leads by in the Gallup Daily tracking poll.  That's on the first day of the weekend too, when McCain supporters are more likely to be home than Obama supporters.  That's assuming that Gallup is using the right mix of cell phones and land lines and that those 2 million new registered democrats have made their way on to their calling lists.  I have my doubts, but let's go ahead and call the Gallup accurate and McCain is up 2 points.  Let's look at the electoral college maps.  If Obama holds in Pennsylvania and Michigan, then he has to win Ohio, Florida, or Colorado and New Mexico.  The RCP averages have him down slightly in Ohio and Florida and up slightly in Colorado and New Mexico.  That means, if those polls are accurate, Obama would win the election.  It hasn't been a great week for Obama and it appears he would still win the election if it were held today.  Let's talk about the press.  They are finally getting pissed off.  Why shouldn't they be?  The McCain campaign has decided that Sarah Palin is to be treated differently than every other candidate in the modern era of politics.  She can't be interviewed except by friendly figures, she can't be called out when she lies, and she is not required to demonstrate even a passing knowledge of foreign policy issues.  We are seeing something I would call a Palin bubble.  Bubbles burst.  This one will too, but we don't get to decide when.  Adoration is followed by scrutiny and the thinner the story the faster it all peters out.  Remember when the press became critical of Obama?  It took him three of four months to right the ship, and Sarah Palin doesn't have three or four months.  As soon as the debates start this election will be Obama v. McCain again.  One final thought: call and canvass.  Hook up with the official Obama campaign.  Do it tomorrow.  Follow through.  This election will be won or lost by which campaign turns out more bodies and achieves more face to face interaction.  Don't give up.  This was never going to be easy.

Sarah Palin is not going away.  McCain is running an aggressive campaign of distraction.  No amount of livid blogging is going to change that.  Here's the good news.  Sarah Palin's effect on the race is a bubble and that bubble is going to burst.  The press is waking up and running articles on Palin which immediately and directly contradict her lying.  They are pissed that they don't have access to her and the first leg of the Charlie Gibson interview proved that she doesn't know a goddamn thing about foreign policy.  None of that matters if we don't contact independent swing voters face to face and make our case for Senator Obama.  If you don't feel you have time to think long and hard about another four to eight years of Republican winter.  Make no mistake: canvassing in conjunction with the Obama campaign is the single most effective way to win this election.  If you live in a swing state this election hinges on you.  I'm in Iowa.  We're not losing this state again.  Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado- we need you.  Hit the streets.