McCain Very Competitive

Amazing stuff, given that it should be a Dem year. A shift in outlook after yesterday's results. But it also could be a cumulative effect since the 2006 midterms as well, as the Dems did nothing in Congress with their new majority--their popularity last I looked was worse than the president's. Rasmussen's results:

Looking to the general election, John McCain has a slight lead over both Democrats. McCain now leads Obama 48% to 43% and Clinton 46% to 45% (see recent daily results). A Rasmussen Reports video suggests that the Clinton victories in Texas and Ohio are good news for John McCain. In Washington State, McCain leads Clinton and is essentially even with Obama.

And this Dem attempt to paint McCain as a rerun of Bush. Don't make me laugh. McCain a compassionate conservative? Get real. As far as tax cuts go--making the Bush tax cuts permanent is popular--letting them expire is a tax increase. A platform of increasing taxes is a loser strategy. Ask Presidents Mondale or McGovern. On health care McCain has a good argument, as the Democrats' plans would do nothing to control costs, which is the primary problem. And the cost of Iraq and the war on terror? What price did we pay on Sept. 11th, in lives and jobs? Remember? The skies were shut down. The nation was shocked and in mourning. I never want to experience that again.

And more prosaically, what do you think oil and gas prices would be if we gave up on Iraq and Iran took over without a fight? How much would an American life be worth overseas? Liberals, kiss goodbye your trip down the Nile on a luxury falukah to tour Luxor.

RCP national average of lots of polls here, with the breakdown. Dems are worried, and they should be. They have two weak candidates who are beating each other up.

P.S. And following upon the Clintons' legacy, which primarily helped them and no one else, Dems' attempts to destroy them (with the Obama empty identity politics phenom) may end up destroying the Democrat party. Dick Durbin, is the smile wiped off your face?

P.P.S. Strategery? Heh:

UPDATE II: An e-mailer to the Corner has the most persuasive evidence yet. An astounding number of voters took Democratic ballots, voted for president, then left the rest of their ballots blank.

The undercount in the D primary was almost 700,000 ballots out of 2.86 million. By contrast, the undercount in the R primary was about 164,000 ballots out of 1.38 million. In the 2004 general election, the dropoff from president to railroad commissioner (the next race on the state ballot) was less than 400,000 out of 7.4 million.

It's reasonable to assume many of these voters were "screw the Dems" Limbaugh listeners.

Grudging respect from the libertarians:)

UPDATE: NY Times is my new best friend. (Maybe I should buy stock...Nah.) But anyway: Public Believes McCain over NY Times story 2 to 1 Annenberg Data Show.