In 99 days, the interminable 2008 presidential campaign will come to an end. On Nov. 4, voters will go to the polls and cast their ballot away from the prying eyes of Gallup, Rasmussen, Quinnipiac and other pollsters.
Barack Obama still has to decide on a running mate. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he told moderator Tom Brokaw:
I'm going to want somebody with integrity; I'm going to want somebody with independence, who's willing to tell me where he thinks or she thinks I'm wrong; and I'm, I'm going to want somebody who shares a vision of the country where we need to go, that we've got to fundamentally change not only our policies, but how our politics works, how business is done in Washington. And I think that there are a number of great candidates out there.
If the National Enquirer is to be believed, that number has been reduced by one. John Edwards may have 99 problems and a baby-mama allegedly is one of them.
But Obama has two immediate problems. First, the latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows John McCain has opened up a four-point lead among likely voters, 49 percent to Obama’s 45 percent. A month ago, McCain trailed Obama by six points.
Second, his “Berlin bounce” is now as flat as a German potato pancake and may have energized Republican voters. More problematic, in a political environment that favors Democrats, Obama has yet to break 50 percent in national polls.
Democratic pollster Peter Hart told the New York Times:
Here’s a 46-year-old African American with a narrative that is very unusual and that few other Americans can relate to. Add to that the fact that he has had four years in the United States Senate and very little international experience. That’s a large leap for the American public to make.
Well, it is a leap year.
