Separately, it doesn't look like Sarah Palin has done much to move female voters. Obama's edges among them are comparable to his leads in the last Quinnipiac polls from a month ago. Even more interestingly, women are picking Joe Biden over Palin in a hypothetical presidential match-up by margins of ten points or more.

Well I always knew we were smarter than men.

;)

Separately, it doesn't look like Sarah Palin has done much to move female voters. Obama's edges among them are comparable to his leads in the last Quinnipiac polls from a month ago.

That seems to be in contradiction with Lifetime Television's latest poll. I don't know from polls, but the women in my life seem to confirm Quinnipiac.

Since picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has obliterated what had been a 34-percentage-point deficit in a poll of likely women voters on the question of which candidate has a “better understanding of women and what is important” to them

(from Schmedley's link)

ROFLMAO!

I'm in a very, very conservative part of Colorado (James Dobson/Ted Haggard country). It's hard to find undecideds here, but I've found a few, and have spent time talking to each one. I've asked what their issues are and -- at least for every one I've talked to -- it's pretty much along the lines we expect. 1) Hate Bush's policies and feel he is a failure. 2) Economy is issue #1, #2 and #3. 3) Don't trust either McCain or Obama.

I think (3) is in part caused by the confusion generated by the McCain campaign and in part by the fact that Obama's speeches, of necessity, don't go into much detail.

I've found I make the biggest impact when I recite the names of Obama's economic advisory staff. Buffett, O'Neill, Volcker. Not everyone recognizes all the names initially (Buffett, however, is universally recognized and respected), but they do after a one sentence bio. The undecideds I've met are very impressed by his advisors, and are quick to believe that McCain's are the same ones Bush used.

One other thing: amongst undecideds Palin is a negative -- often very strong negative -- while everyone I met seems to think Biden strengthened the Obama ticket.

I am confident Colorado will go to Obama by a safe margin. These undecideds are clearly ready to vote against the incumbent party -- they are just looking for a reason to get comfortable with the Obama ticket.

This is going to the break deal, I believe. He has to be seen as assertive and straight to the point.

One debate is not a deal make or breaker.

It may have an effect on some undecideds, but the entire campaign does not hinge on the debate.

Obama really needs to get the point across that unless you're in the top 1% regarding income you're better off under Obama's tax plan. Folks still believe Obama is going to tax them more than McCain will, and that is completely false.

Obama isn't doing enough to get this message out clearly and concisely.

Instead of wasting money on silly Bermuda ads, he should be running one minute ads in all swing states clearly explaining with visual aids that his tax plan is better for everybody except those with income in the top 1%. Maybe have 4-5 everyday folks in varying circumstances and income brackets saying A]their situation and income and then how much they'd benefit more under the Obama tax plan compared to the McCain play.

He really needs to get this point across, as it seems to be a big issue held against him by folks - the belief that Obama will raise taxes on them, whereas McCain will not.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but the debate is on Friday (rather than a Tuesday or something) to reduce viewership. The media will then claim that McCain did better than he did, assuming he does badly. That being said, McCain is not George W. Bush, who clearly lost every debate with Gore and Kerry, but was propped up. Dick Hardball even strongly claimed that W. won a couple of them. I digress. McCain is not George W. Bush, McCain does OK in a debate format, Obama's strength in debates depend on the night, the debate may not favor Obama at all, but back to my point, if it does, the MSM will jawbone McCain's performance up. Obama needs to dominate McCain and especially given McCain's recent comfort level with lying, and the media's reluctance to call him out on them to the extent that they are complete lies in many cases, Friday could be tough.

What I mean, is that there are some undecided voters who are concerned about Obama mainly because of the media and because of some inuendos...

So what he has to do on Friday is to show to these people that he is one of us, that he is nothing like the inuendos....

Yup! Musik to my ears!