Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
It took awhile for major media outlets to notice Wednesday when John McCain surged ahead by five points in the presidential race, according to the latest Reuters/Zogby poll.
Some media outlets didn't seem to want to admit it. CNN quickly pointed to an "average" of polls showing Barack Obama slightly ahead; CBS radio cited another poll showing Obama ahead by three points -- and made sure to report a poll nugget showing that Obama supporters were more "enthusiastic."
If not for alternative news media, you wouldn't know the tide had turned. But it has.
Obama's lead has been slipping since June or July. Some credit McCain's harsh campaigning against Obama, while others point to McCain's superior performance at the Saddleback forum.
The Russian invasion of Georgia -- and Obama's famously feckless response, in which he urged restraint by both perpetrator and victim -- also had to have shocked some Americans awake from their Obamamania.
Obama now heads into his party's convention in a tailspin. And this year, the Republican convention follows the very next week -- so Obama's convention bounce may not last long.
Nor did the presumptive Democratic nominee do himself any favors by ceding much of what should have been his convention to the Clintons: All three Clintons will make speeches, and Hillary Clinton's name will formally be put into nomination.
"Obama gave away Tuesday night, Wednesday night and part of Thursday night to the Clintons," writes former Clinton adviser Dick Morris. "It will really be their convention."
Being outmaneuvered by a domestic political rival also fuels voter fears over Obama's ability to withstand the treachery and underhandedness of our foreign enemies.
"If Obama can't stand up to the Clintons, after they have been defeated," writes Morris, "how can he measure up to a resurgent Putin who has just achieved a military victory?"
McCain has his own mine fields to navigate -- including his choice of vice president. Reports continue to indicate he is considering a pro-choice nominee, perhaps even longtime Democratic Senate colleague Joe Lieberman. If McCain makes that kind of move, conservatives will revolt, and we predict he will surely lose the election.
McCain's surge seems to be working as did the military surge in Iraq that he was in the forefront of.
But if he has a lead, it is tenuous at best.
As the saying goes, he'd better dance with who brung him.
