If the polls are still the same in a dead heat in Oct then IMO Obama would have lost  any chance of not making this election a close race.  Then you will have to just cross your fingers that he wins and that's not what the Dem expected this election.

That's is why I am angry at Obama.  He decided to risk the election when he knew he did not have to.  By not picking Hilary he knew he would be jeopardizing the election especially when he had slam dunk deal that was at his finger tips which he threw away.   And that is why I say to Obama,

Fully 47 percent say Obama lacks the proper experience -- an even worse reading than the 36 percent who had the same criticism about McCain running mate Sarah Palin, serving her second year as Alaska governor after being a small-town mayor.

But electoral-vote.com also summarizes well what Howard Fineman says -- that if Obama listens to this wake-up call, there still is time to fix it:

Obama's Mistakes

Howard Fineman wrote a very good column detailing what Obama has done wrong. In brief. he

    * Declined to take public funding (meaning too much time wasted fundraising in NY & LA)
    * Turned down the offer of 10 town hall debates where he could be lambasting McCain now
    * Wasted time and money and energy on states he has no hope of winning
    * Didn't get the Clintons and their supporters fully engaged
    * Acted like a dispassionate observer of the scene instead of a fired-up leader of a movement
    * Failed to attack McCain early and hard

Some of these are irreversible, like the funding, the town halls, and the effort wasted in Montana, but many people are just beginning to pay attention, so he can still work on the last two or three. Remember, in politics, a week is a long time. The first debate is on Sept. 26 and that could shake up everything.

This is a major issue for many Americans, including those blue-collar swing voters in states like OH, PA, MI, FL -- all places hit hard by mortgage/foreclosure problems.

If Obama could take a page from the Clintons and really hammer the economy -- in ads and ways regular people can understand -- I think he can still pull this out.

It is too late now for the Clintons to do anything significant for his candidacy. They gave it their best -- and their best was very good indeed -- at the convention. (It is rather rich to see pundits now advise Obama to use the Clintons to gain the approval of voters after he has spent so much time using them so hard and ignobly to gain the approval of the pundits.)

I know, BTD, that you have always thought Obama's media darling status was a big plus. I, on the other hand, have always thought that his campaign's failure to understand that the media is not the constituency they needed to court, was his biggest weakness.

It gives people the sense that he won't just stick to the conventional wisdom. It does what every politician needs to do, and which Obama has mostly failed to do: show, not talk, in communicating what one stands for.

There is and was the constant trash talk on MSNBC; the discounting of female voters in Appalachia and small towns; the DNC and Democratic congress people splitting the party for Obama; the selection of Palin.

I think that women are very, very angry and I do not know how Obama gets them back.  It will not be with choice. I will be on that. Nor equal pay.

It could be with health insurance.  A guarantee that there would be universal health insurance and it would be started in the first 100 days...and confidence that Democrats can take charge of the economy.

I think it would be encouraging to know that Palin is responsible for his improvement.

Otherwise, he's doing better because of his campaign's attacks, manipulations, and lies.  This could be seen as their "trial run" test.  Now the McCain folks know that they can close strong by running two weeks of trash as November approaches.

This is why I'm not comforted by the folks who say we should wait for the debates.  I'd like to see the BHO folks test some counters NOW.  That way they'll know what works when the McCain folks roll out their closing attacks, manipulations, and lies.

Barack Obama could be on the verge of falling out of contention in Florida.

Despite spending an estimated $8-million on campaign ads in America's biggest battleground state and putting in place the largest Democratic campaign organization ever in Florida, Obama has lost ground over the summer. Florida has moved from a toss-up state to one that clearly leans toward John McCain, fueling speculation about how much longer the Democratic nominee will continue investing so heavily in the state.

Obama can still win Florida despite the polling gains McCain has made since naming Sarah Palin his running mate, and there is no sign Obama is pulling back in Florida yet. Far from it. Obama allies say he has about 350 paid staffers in the state and about 50 field offices, including in places not known as fertile ground for Democrats, such as Sun City Center, Lake City and Sebring.

But for all the attention to Florida from the Obama campaign, there's little tangible evidence it's paying off.

While "Progressives" might get an inflated sense of their numbers and electoral impact because of their preponderance on the internet, they are still smaller numbers within the general population.  Very little real groundwork has actually been done other than talking to each other through this new medium and creating instant signature response websites that can also generate cash flow. Unfortunately, this may have allowed many to believe in a sphere of influence that simply did not exist sufficiently to "go the distance" - meaning having enough stamina, velocity, and depth and numbers of quality leadership to overcome entrenched obstacles.  

But, Obama has yet to reveal his leadership within the party.  He can TALK, but he has yet to actually DO - meaning, make a lasting or enduring difference on the ground. The new DNC party bosses thought Obama's cash flow along with all our joy and excitement of overcoming yet another racial barrier for African Americans would be enough, while Clinton supporters said that the candidate needed to also be connected within the party structure.