Opinion: Where’s the bounce? Obama’s lead over McCain same as June

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In case you hadn’t heard, Sen. Barack Obama is on a presidential victory tour of Europe and the Middle East this week. He’s going to give what his staff bills as ‘a major speech’ in Berlin on Thursday because Germans can’t vote in the American election. But Obama clearly really, really wants that Milwaukee vote. (BTW, we’re looking forward to the day some presidential staffer characterizes his boss’ speech as ‘a minor one.’)

Silly old man that he is, Sen. John McCain, in case you hadn’t heard, is still acting as if he’s in the general election race, traveling around places like Pennsylvania in the United States talking and listening to people who can vote in the American election.

Asked tonight by Sean Hannity his reaction to the overwhelming news coverage of Obama’s foreign trip, compared to the underwhelming coverage of his own three foreign journeys this year, McCain said, ‘All I can do is be amused. It is what it is.’ (Click on the cartoon to enlarge.)

Neither major-party candidate has actually received his party’s official nomination. That doesn’t come for another month yet.

So the new NBC-Wall Street Journal Poll is coming out this evening. And even in this alleged year of the Democrat, with the Obama campaign practically printing money and already running general election ads in Republican strongholds, the new July results will show that the Illinois Democrat’s 6-point lead from June has remained exactly the same as in June -- 6 points. (See MSNBC video below.)

According to the results, Americans (46%-41%) feel McCain is the ‘safer choice’ for the White House. McCain leads by a larger margin (58%-46%) as the candidate with the background and set of values they most identify with. A majority (51%-27%) find themselves thinking more about what an Obama administration would be like.

Among Obama staffers, that percentage is probably even larger.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Cartoon reprinted by permission of the artist, Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Ramirez.