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Senator Barack Obama's trip to the epicenter and Europe initially produced a large bounce in the polls. But all those gains have evaporated a week later. Today, the junior Senator from Illinois and Senator John McCain of Arizona are again in a dead heat. This, despite growing economic anxieties, including the loss of nearly a half-million American jobs this year -- bringing the unemployment rate up to 5.7% -- and GM losing $15 billion-plus in just the last three months, for a total of $51 billion in losses over the past three years.
The only real good news in the economy at the moment: oil prices are down nearly $20 off the year's high, settling at the moment a bit around $122 a barrel. In turn, gas prices have dropped nearly 20 cents a gallon over the past few weeks.
Worth noting: at this stage in the 1988 presidential campaign, Michael Dukakis was 17 points ahead of George H.W. Bush.
