Despite the fawning media coverage of Barry's 2008 World Tour...including yesterday's speech in Berlin...Mccain has been keeping the race tight...even closing the gap in key battleground states. From the LA Times:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is tightening the presidential race against Democratic rival Barack Obama in four key states, according to polls released this morning.

The four polls conducted by Quinnipiac University in partnership with the Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com show that McCain is running slightly ahead of Obama in Colorado, is close in Minnesota and has narrowed the gap in Michigan and Wisconsin.

In Colorado, McCain was ahead 46% to 44%. Obama led in Michigan, 46% to 42%; by 46% to 44% in Minnesota and by 50% to 39% in Wisconsin, according to the four state polls posted on the university website.

The new polling data come in a week in which Obama has virtually monopolized news coverage of the presidential campaign with a nine-day trip through war zones, the Mideast and Europe.

And the issue that's got the "gas" to make these numbers possible?

The issue that seems to have helped McCain in the polls released today was his support of offshore drilling for oil. As gasoline prices have risen sharply, other polls have shown that Americans are more likely to support offshore drilling, especially if they are in states where drilling isn't likely.

Voters in the four states support offshore drilling by margins of 22 to 31 percentage points. The polls also show that the voters in the four states would support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by a range of seven to 12 percentage points.

Energy policy ranked as the most important issue, eclipsing the war in Iraq, which has garnered most of the attention this week because of Obama's trip.

Aside from the energy issue, it may be that Obamamania is indeed producing a backlash among US voters... from the NY Sun:

Political and foreign policy analysts acknowledged that Mr. Obama risked creating the impression that he was cozying up too much to the European community, which some American voters view warily. And his extended trip abroad comes as he has yet to build the kind of commanding lead in the polls that some political observers had predicted, given the level of enthusiasm surrounding his candidacy. New surveys from Quinnipiac University released yesterday showed that Mr. McCain was closing the gap in four key states, including Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado.

And Fox has a poll pointing out the large numbers of Americans who have a sneaking suspicion, based on the tone of quantity of Obama media coverage, that the boys and girls in the mainstream media are pulling for Barry.

You have to believe that there's some Obama fatigue out there among folks in the middle, (not just Republicans). Which makes you wonder whether or not he has "peaked" to early. (some are even suggesting that members of the press are getting a little tired of him)

Meanwhile, the wags suggest McCain's VP choice coming soon...at least before the Olympics. I'm still dubious about that. I think it's better to wait and use that headline to step on Barry's convention bounce.

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