Game On

With Hillary Clinton having officially conceded, the battle for President of the United States is joined between Barack Obama for the Democrats and John McCain for the Republicans. Already, the parameters have been defined. Obama is focusing on the economy, while McCain is focusing on Iraq. But when they go into each other's comfort zones, Obama comes out looking better either way, what with McCain fudging his answers on questions related to the war and demonstrating an insensitivity to the struggles middle-class Americans are going through these days. He continues to support keeping the capital gains tax low, despite the fact that it benefits the rich, and he won't support extended benefits for military recruits to kick in after one enlistment.

Obama is charging out of the gate, with a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showing him ahead of McCain outside the margin of error and leading among different demographic groups - including the ones he's supposed to have problems in. Obama's rose bed has produced some thorn; one of the members of his vice presidential running mate search committee, former Fannie Mae lending company chairman James Johnson, had to resign due to improper mortgages he got from Countrywide Financial Corporation.