McCain Gains Ground

Today's CNN "Poll of Polls" shows Obama with only a 3 point national lead over McCain, down from 6 points last week and 8 points a couple of weeks ago. Given that McCain is gaining ground even in the face of some high-profile gaffes (his campaign co-chair calling the U.S. a "nation of whiners", his inability to answer a question about health insurance paying for birth control, etc.), this may shape up to be a closer race than many Obamanauts thought. Of course, U.S. elections aren't determined by a national popular vote, but even on CNN's electoral college analysis, McCain is narrowing Obama's lead in several battleground states. The one piece of good news for Obama is that the aforementioned polls are conducted as if it were a two-man race; when Libertarian Bob Barr and independent Ralph Nader are factored in, Obama opens up a sizable lead over McCain (since the two third-party candidates siphon far more support from McCain than Obama).