Our side makes mistakes too, and we should recognize and concede the gaffe when we see one. I'd say its pretty reasonable to hope our President-Elect avoids further jokes at the expense of former Presidents and their ailing, elderly, well-respected relations. No big deal, I just hope we can recognize it wasn't exactly the high point of his first press conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59XB68F54kA

Right wing blogs are already in full outrage mode.

I have no idea what incident, if any, Obama was referring to -- but I'm assuming people who know more about Nancy Reagan picked up the reference. Unfortunately, the joke suggested, none-to-delicately, that Nancy Reagan is some sort of loon.

Just because we won an election doesn't mean we shouldn't maintain some respect for the opposing party, and treat its elders delicately.

Remember 1994.

This is nitpicking, but I wish they'd ditch this "Office of the President-Elect" nonsense. Branding and image are certainly important parts of presidential politics, but I think they can ease up a bit on those aspects of his transition. The imaginary office reminds me of that really embarrassing campaign presidential seal he spoke behind during his energy roundtable with Democratic governors a while back. Cool your jets image team! We're convinced he's the presidential type!

Still, a competent performance, and I look forward to seeing his administration continue to develop in the coming weeks.

Party weighting doesn't completely explain the new Fox/OD numbers. In this latest survey, they too report independent voters swinging to McCain. Their latest poll finds Obama winning independent voters 46-41 (n=146 +-8%). Their last survey (20-21 Oct 08) had Obama up with Independents by nine, 44-35 (14% undecided, pretty substantial). Considering the large margin of error in this poll with independent voters, that swing could well be statistical noise. On the other hand, there may be a pattern emerging, with Obama losing his comfortable margin with independent voters.

Economist/YouGov just released a October 25-27 poll themselves, with Obama ahead 49-42 and party weighting at 34.7% Dem, 26.1% Rep, 37.3% Indie. Obama wins Independents in their poll 44-41 (N=366). Who's right? I have no idea.

Even so, with Democrats still edging out Republican registrations by several points at least, Obama winning his party in equal or greater numbers than McCain, and winning independents by small margins -- Obama wins. I think we're just seeing a natural tightening of the race, but a still comfortable lead for Obama-Biden.