:: Oh God That Feels Good...

CNN reports (breathlessly) from Denver that their latest poll (RVs) has McCain and Obama in a dead heat - 44 to 44.

Its a freakin' CNN poll. Its worthless. I know. But my leg.... ooo, I like it! Here's some text:

"This looks like a step backward for Obama, who had a 51 to 44 percent advantage last month," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Even last week, just before his choice of Joe Biden as his running mate became known, most polls tended to show Obama with a single-digit advantage over McCain."

So what's the difference now?

It may be supporters of Hillary Clinton, who still would prefer the New York senator and former first lady as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

Sixty-six percent of Clinton supporters -- registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee -- are now backing Obama. That's down from 75 percent in the end of June.

Twenty-seven percent of them now say they'll support McCain, up from 16 percent in late June.

"The number of Clinton Democrats who say they would vote for McCain has gone up 11 points since June, enough to account for most, although not all, of the support McCain has gained in that time," Holland said.

Good god, stop me before I write something obscene......................

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NOTE:

Because I'm having a mini-bout of insomnia, and because it has been brought to my attention elsewhere that some people do not understand the basic elements of pressure politics, I add the following explanation of why this is oh so exciting news.

Pressure Politics 101

If you want the Democratic leadership to change their sorry-ass ways, you have to hit them where it matters to them. They will only change under duress.

There are only two things that matter during campaign time: cash, and poll numbers.

Right now no one can touch the Dems for money. Thus the only thing that will get the message across that they need to change their ways is a hit registered in their poll numbers.

That hit is happening now. And its happening at a very advantageous time: when a lot of feminists are in Denver trying to directly engage the party leadership in a conversation about changing their ways. A lot of people will be offering the party carrots: the Dems can win in November if they appeal to women. These bad polling numbers are the stick.

Gloating over these numbers has nothing to do with being pro-McCain. If one were truly pro-McCain, you would hope for this phenomenon *not* to show up until mid-October, when it would be too late for the Dems to do anything about it.

Feminists need to demonstrate that there is a price to be paid for ignoring our interests. Hallelujah that we have cold, hard numbers that show exactly that, on the eve of the convention, no less, and from a MSM sanctioned source.

Any issue group out there - enviros, labor, gun nuts, goat cheese partisans - would spontaneously combust in hot flaming ecstasy if they learned that they could walk into a negotiation with data that says "listen to us, or else."

- end of lesson-

CNN isn't the only media organization reporting troubling numbers for Obama. This is what Gallup is reporting:

Obama Lags in Democratic Support

Whereas 84% of Republicans polled from Aug. 11-17 say they will vote for McCain in November, only 79% of Democrats say they will vote for Obama. A similar gap in party loyalty has been seen each week since Obama clinched the Democratic nomination in early June. Over this period, Obama's Democratic support has ranged from 78% to 82% while McCain's Republican support has ranged from 83% to 85%.

Gallup's most recent breakout of white registered voters from their rolling aggregate count is the August 17th batch; it shows:

White men: Obama, 35% McCain, 56%
White women: Obama, 40% McCain, 47%

Gallup's snap reaction measure of Biden's impact:

The initial evidence is that Biden won't hurt Obama in the election, but with only 14% of voters saying they are more likely to vote for the ticket with Biden on it, and 7% less likely, he is not positioned at this point to help Obama much either.

And with that, I've cured my own insomnia. Thank you, and good night... um, good morning.