A new Reuters/Zogby poll shows that McCain now has a five point lead, 46-41, over Obama.  That is a dramatic change from the same poll a month ago, that showed Obama up by seven.  It looks like McCain’s hard-hitting ads from the last few weeks have been working.  People are finally starting to realize that Obama’s hype doesn’t live up to reality, and he just does not have the experience that would make him ready to lead.

The poll shows that McCain has a 9 point lead, 49-40, over Obama regarding which candidate is more qualified to manage the economy.  That is incredibly significant, because the economy is one of the most prominent issues on most American’s minds these days.

Also interesting is that the poll shows that Obama’s lead among young voters age 18-29 slipped 12 points from July.  His lead among our age demographic is now only 12 points, 52-40.  This is the second major poll that has shown Obama losing his grip on this group of voters.

Considering all the hype about Obama’s appeal to young voters, that relatively narrow a gap is incredibly significant.  If McCain can continue to make inroads into one of his opponent’s key constituencies, Obama is going to have a very difficult time winning this November.

…ask Obama routine questions about his past voting record.

 Once again, Barack Obama has proven unwilling to face any tough questions from the press.  A reporter recently asked the Senator to explain a contradiction between an Obama attack ad and his own voting history.  Obama’s first reaction was to hedge, and when the reporter pressed the issue, he got downright hostile.

REPORTER: I guess what the American people want to know though Senator, is what is the real difference between you and John McCain. You are running this ad tying him to the industry saying that he has taken all of these contributions, but as you well know there is a story out today about how you supported the Dick Cheney bill and he opposed it. That bill gave subsidies to the oil and gas companies, John McCain opposed the bill saying those are tax breaks for those companies, Barack Obama favored it.

 

SEN. OBAMA: Hold on a second Jon, I thought I was talking to you instead of debating John McCain…

Energy policy is proving to be a weak spot for Obama.  An overwhelming majority of Americans support drilling as one method to reduce energy costs, so much so that he recently amended his opinion on the issue to appear closer to the mainstream.  This weakness is clearly a touchy subject for Obama.  When the McCain campaign handed reporters metal tire gauges inscribed with the words “Obama’s Energy Plan,” Obama snapped:

“It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant. They think it’s funny that they’re making fun of something that is actually true.”

Meanwhile, the McCain campaign responded to the insult by saying:

“Instead of calling on his party’s leadership to return to Congress and carve out an ‘all of the above’ approach to America’s energy crisis, Barack Obama would rather tell commuters to inflate their car tires.”

The Wall Street Journal just released an editorial discussing McCain and Obama’s approaches to fixing the education system in the United States.  One of the things that I found interesting was that Obama’s daughters do not attend a Chicago public school, but instead go to the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, which range from $15,528 a year for kindergarten and $20,445 a year for high school.

Now, what bothers me about this isn’t that Obama spends more money than many of his supporters earn in a year to send his children to private schools.  It is certainly his right to do so.  What bothers me is his continued opposition to what he told the American Federation of Teachers was the “tired rhetoric of vouchers and school choice.

In other words, Obama thinks it is fine for his kids to go to private schools.  For parents that can’t afford to spent tens of thousands of dollars a year, though—too bad, their kids are stuck in failing and often unsafe public schools.

This is blatant hypocrisy, and just goes to show how much of an elitist Barack Obama really is.

The internet is starting to buzz with news of Where Is The Red?  The Kentucky Enquirer has a story about the WITR crew helping Republican campaigns in the northern part of the state.  It includes an interesting quote showing how much the campaigns appreciate the help:

“We were excited by the opportunity to show this group of college Republicans around the 4th district and to have them volunteer their time by knocking doors and attending several county fairs in the area,” said Davis spokesman Jeremy Hughest. “As always, Congressman Davis is committed to running a grassroots campaign and we are happy to have these college students be a part of it.”

Where Is The Red  was also featured on “Citizen Tube”—YouTube’s politics blog.  Check it out here.