Quote of the Day: Take a Deep Breath

Polls, schmolls. Look at the big picture and just keep working. Remember, after his Convention, Michael Dukakis was almost 20 points ahead of his R opponent. In other words, polling at this point, whether for the prez or down-ticket races -- is fluid and often meaningless. If voters are still lukewarm about their candidate or still undecided, it's the debates that will make the difference. Can't wait. Can you imagine any of the R candidate doing well in debates? Me either.

"If the Obama brain trust seems relatively serene compared with its seething base, it’s because they live in the Electoral College world, where the presidential race only takes place in a third of the country. They don’t care about national polls — a concept as quaint as measuring one’s wealth by caribou pelts. They worry about the undecided vote in Minnesota and Ohio and run their TV ads (about the economy) in places like Colorado and Michigan and Florida. If you live in California or New York or Texas, you don’t really have much of a feel for their level of effort because as far as they’re concerned, you’ve already voted." --Gail Collins, NY Times Op-Ed Columnist