PB
Please explain to me how "playing the race card" is an "excellent political ploy" if being black isnt an advantage (which it isnt and we all know it - the only reason there is any doubt whatever about Obama is that there are people out there who wont vote for a black guy)
And as for Gallup's poll, I doubt their likely voter model based on past elections has much to do with 2008. For another view, and remembering that our elections are really 50 separate state level elections, check out pollster.com - They have some cool interactive maps based on averaging all the latest polls. Non-partisan too. But by all means, I hope all republicans continue in the fantasy that McCain is leading. Judging from the level of negativity coming from his campaign, I doubt McCain's people believe that poll either.
Pollster.com - Political Poll Trends, Charts and Analysis