Rasmussen: McCain 50% - Obama 47%

John McCain has hit 50% in the Rasmussen daily tracking poll for the first time. He now has a +3 advantage over Obama.

On September 2nd, the day the GOP Convention finally got going after waiting out a day for Hurricane Gustav, Obama was up 51% to 45%, a +6 advantage. In the 12 days since Obama has lost 9 points. And how about this:

The new survey also found that 45% of voters say the election will be exciting, up from 23% in mid-August. GOP voters are more excited about the election now than Democrats.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of McCain voters say it will be exciting while just 38% of Obama voters say the same. A month ago, just 20% of McCain voters thought the election would be exciting while 29% of Obama voters held that view.

Gee, I wonder why? No wonder the Dems are in a panic.

Obama is now promising a fierce attack against McCain. He sent out Sen. Claire McKaskill from Missouri to suggest that voters need to be worried about McCain's age and cancer history. He's launching all kinds of personal assaults suggesting that McCain has no honor and can't be trusted.

There is one thing that Obama isn't doing - he isn't telling the American people why he's qualified to be president or what he would actually do if we trusted him with the job. He's just spouting "change" and "hope" with not one specific policy attached. That may have worked during the primaries, but not now. Endless attacks on McCain will not win the election. The voters have to be able to believe that they can see Obama as President.

Ask yourself this question: Can you see Barack Obama leading this country? In your mind's eye can you see him as the occupant of the White House? I have a pretty good imagination, but that's beyond my abilities.

And, I'll throw you a little curveball here: Can you see Michelle Obama walking through the White House with the host from HGTV telling America about all the Christmas decorations they've put up for Christmas 2009?

I think Obama is much weaker than his numbers above show. I think he could very easily be 8-10 points down right now thanks to the dreaded "Bradley" effect. As I've explained before, I don't think it's racism that causes people to tell the pollsters one thing and vote another. I think it's the fear of being considered racist if you don't answer the pollsters in the politically correct way.

Is America ready for a black president? Absolutely.

Is America ready for THIS black president? No way.