Senator Barack Obama

He Could Still Lose This Thing

Oh crap.

A new USA Today/Gallup poll gives John McCain the lead among likely voters -- quite possibly the first poll in a long time to show this -- and Obama only a narrow edge among the wider pool of registered voters.

The numbers: Among likely voters, it's McCain 49%, Obama 45%, with a ±4% margin of error. A month ago, Obama led 50%-44% in this group. Among registered voters it's Obama 47%, McCain 44%, compared to Obama ahead 48%-42% last month.

Even though this poll is likely an anomaly, it helps to underscore that, regardless of the overwhelming disapproval of the McBush Republicans, Senator Obama, through no real fault of his own, is roughly one Hoo-Sane e-mail, one orange alert and one ridiculous contrarian-left pro-Nader movement away from losing this thing.