Huffington Post: "Campaign Momentum Shifts Back To Obama"

Campaign Momentum Shifts Back To Obama



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/18/campaign-momentum-shifts_n_127338.html

Barack Obama, whose campaign many feared was collapsing in the Democratic presidential tradition of Kerry, Dukakis, and Mondale, has pulled slightly ahead of John McCain in the latest polls, while Republicans watch the boost McCain got from Sarah Palin evanesce.

There is no concrete evidence of what is driving the revival of Obama's strength, but he has been pounding McCain on economic issues, especially hitting McCain's Monday assertion that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

On television, an Obama spot asks, "How can John McCain fix our economy if he doesn't understand it's broken?" On the stump, playing for free media, Obama asks his opponent, "Senator -- what economy are you talking about?"

Obama's improved fortunes are relieving an epidemic of Democratic anxiety from Beverly Hills and South Central Los Angeles to the Upper West Side and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Recent fears among Democratic activists have been based on a brief spate of polls. After holding a relatively consistent lead for five months, Obama, two weeks ago, suddenly looked vulnerable. In six out of seven national polls conducted from September 5 to September 11 and tracked by RealClearPolitics, McCain led:



Over the past six days, however, Obama appears to be regaining his footing, pulling ahead of McCain in four out of the five most recent surveys, culminating in leads ranging from 1 point (Rasmussen) to a relatively solid 5-point advantage in the September 12-16 CBS News/New York Times survey published in the September 18 paper.



Providing a lift to Democratic spirits, the New York Times wrote:

"Polls taken after the Republican convention suggested that Mr. McCain had enjoyed a surge of support -- particularly among white women after his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate -- but the latest poll indicates "the Palin effect" was, at least so far, a limited burst of interest... the Times/CBS News poll suggested that Ms. Palin's selection has, to date, helped Mr. McCain only among Republican base voters; there was no evidence of significantly increased support for him among female voters in general. White women are evenly divided between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama; before the conventions, Mr. McCain led Mr. Obama among white women by a margin of 44 percent to 37 percent."