I’m also a resident of a swing state, FL, and both Michele Obama and Gov (not former Mayor as I’ve read far too many times) Palin have graced our area recently. Disappointed as I am not at the fairly strong potential for an Obama win (I have to keep hoping Truman did it in ’48), I’m surprised Obama’s not doing far better. The media loves him, criticism of him (and/or his cronies) has been labeled, incorrectly, racist (I can’t wait until you can’t criticize the President because he’s black… that’ll be a bonus for our Republic), and he’s run an incredibly well orchestrated, almost flawless campaign (this from someone who knows, from work, the brother of McCain’s campaign manager, Rich Davis). The media is so gagga over Obama, this week Time magazine could hardly find room to even mention McCain or Palin, but ran a 6 page or so interview with Obama. Nothing on the issues held by McCain. So, if Obama’s so great, and all these things are in his favor, (like McCain incorrectly being labeled another George Bush), why the heck isn’t Obama polling like he’s going to win in a landslide. Hillary would have at this point, I believe; she was much more electable than Obama, and was catching up with him at the end of the primaries; too little, too late. The polls should be reading 65-70 percent for Obama, if he’s as good as the press and his blinded fans thinks he is. The answer, I believe, is not racism. It’s because the many Americans are pretty darn smart and see Obama for what he is: a very smooth, cool, calculating, indeed gifted, snake oil salesman who mislabels as a tax cut a transfer of funds from those who pay taxes to those who don’t, who is the most liberal of all the Senate, who voted present so he wouldn’t have a record he’d have to defend, and who voted to defend allowing to die a living child who survived an abortion (even most Democrats couldn’t support that). McCain wasn’t my choice in the primaries, and he’s better than Bush, but I’m hoping my daughter can vote for him, or Sarah Palin, in her first presidential election, in 2012. (PS…I missed Palin’s and Obama’s visits. I have a day job.)