Reuters Presidential Poll

We've seen two other polls recently. Newsweek has Obama with a 15 point lead over McCain and conservative pollster Rasmussen has Obama with a 4 point lead over McCain.

Now Reuters has Obama with a 5 point lead over McCain.

Reuters: Obama has narrow lead on McCain

That is down slightly from Obama's 8-point advantage on McCain in May, before Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York left the Democratic race.

When I talk with friends about the Presidential race, many express the same concerns.

Essentially the first is that McCain wins because there is a great racial divide in the country that cannot be overcome. They believe McCain gets the good old boy vote and that's enough for him to win. McCain probably does get that vote but he is working on piecing together enough from other groups, way beyond the black vote, to win. He can pull it off.

The second is their deep concern that some crazed right wing militant wants to off Obama. Its the JFK scenario. Regardless of its probability, this concern speaks about the deep fear and cynicism that we hold. We expect to see a type of conspiracy surrounding the bad and violent news. How tragic is this. We live expecting the worst. In this sense, Bush fulfilled our fears. Sometimes if you expect the worst, you get the worst. There is a big difference between being open to possibility and anticipating tragedy.