I just saw the results of a Rasmussen survey asking people's opinions on government regulation of the airwaves.  This is scary:

Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary, but they draw the line at imposing that same requirement on the Internet. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say leave radio and TV alone, too.

All the while, these same people believe that the free market makes sure just about any view can (and does) get heard:

At the same time, 71% say it is already possible for just about any political view to be heard in today’s media, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty percent (20%) do not agree.

So they think most views are being heard, they just want "their" views heard more often?  Or maybe it's this politically correct cult of "fairness" we've been slowly-but-surely sinking into in this country for the past several decades. 

Then there's this nugget:

Fifty-seven percent (57%) say the government should not require websites and blog sites that offer political commentary to present opposing viewpoints. But 31% believe the Internet sites should be forced to balance their commentary.

Sheesh...  As Seinfeld would say, "who ARE these people?".  Well, whoever they are, it's this kind of uninformed "opinion" that fuels liberal congressional agendas...and the Democrats have been itching for quite some time to reinstate the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" that would mandate that radio and TV stations give "equal time" to all political viewpoints...regardless of their popularity...or what the audience (and ratings) demands.

As I've said many times before, there are a lot of stupid people in this country...and too many of them have voter registration cards.  Forget the poll tax, I think we need a Constitutional intelligence test when registering to vote.

In the meantime, you can sound off to your members of Congress if you like by signing our "Stop the Fairness Doctrine" petition and sending them a fax and letting them know how you feel.

Rasmussen's latest daily tracking shows only a one point difference - for the 8th straight day in a row.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday again shows Barack Obama attracting 44% of the vote while and John McCain earns 43%. When "leaners" are included, it’s Obama 47% and McCain 46%. With leaners, the candidates have been within one point of each other for eight straight days.

Kind of makes you wonder what the numbers would be like had Hillary been the nominee at this point.  For that matter, I suppose Hillary and her folks are thinking the same thing.  I'm sure Obama's folks have those super-delegates under close surveillance.

Brace yourself...of the 3 big national polls out today, 2 our of 3 actually have John McCain with a lead.  Zogby and Rasmussen give McCain a 1 point edge, while Gallup puts Barry up by 3.  All are in the margin of error of course.

From Zogby:

A national Associated TV/Zogby International telephone poll of 1,011 likely voters conducted July 31-Aug. 1 finds Republican Sen. John McCain taking a razor-thin 42%-41% lead over Democrat Sen. Barack Obama in the race for the U.S. presidency.

The margin between the candidates is statistically insignificant, but demonstrates a notable turn-around from the Reuters/Zogby poll of July 7-9 that showed Obama ahead, 46%-36% in a four-way match-up that included Libertarian candidate Bob Barr of Georgia and liberal independent candidate Ralph Nader. McCain made significant gains at Obama’s expense among some of what had been Obama’s strongest demographic groups.

From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows the race for the White House is tied once again-- Barack Obama and John McCain each attract 44% of the vote. However, when "leaners" are included, it’s McCain 47% and Obama 46%. ...

This is the second straight day showing McCain with a statistically insignificant advantage nationally over Obama. These two days are the first time that the GOP hopeful has enjoyed a lead of any sort since Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3. Overall, however, these results are consistent with results from the past couple of weeks showing a race that is essentially even as the convention season approaches.

And from Gallup:

Registered voters show a slight preference for Barack Obama (46%) over John McCain (43%) if the presidential election were held today, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking results.

The three percentage point advantage for Obama matches the average since early June, when Obama clinched the number of delegates needed to head to the Democratic convention as the presumptive presidential nominee. Since then, Obama has never trailed McCain among registered voters, though McCain has tied Obama five times during this span, including Gallup Poll Daily tracking reports for last Friday and Saturday.

Big issue to point out with Gallup - it's "registered" voters...not "likely" voters, as with Rasmussen and Zogby.  Which means that, if they had a likely voters subset, it probably showed McCain ahead...so they didn't publish it.  Apparently wanting to avoid what happened the last time they did so, (showing McCain up by 3), and their being forced to write an op-ed as to whether or not "likely" voters matter.

The big takeaway here is the fact that the race is essentially dead even.  Dead even, after all the money Obama's spent...after all the extra free press due to the longer Democrat primary contest...dead even after the World Tour with sycophant media accompanyment...dead even, despite the fact that the Dems outpoll the Republicans by double digits on the generic ballot.  Not to mention that, at this point in the race, Dukakis had a double digit lead over Bush 41 in '88, Gore had a double digit lead over Bush 43 2000...as did John Kerry in 2004.

So what's up?  As I've said before, I'ts all about the O.  All about the fact that he's not closing the sale.  His celebrity status is starting to backfire...people are getting tired of the relentless coverage...people are actually starting to focus on the race and, bad news for Barry, learning more about him.

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• Related:
• Obama lead plunges in Massachusetts 
• McCain moving up in polls
• John McCain catching up with Obama 
• New poll shows Obama losing support among young and women

More: Powerline - Stop the ACLU - Newsbusters - Ace

There are some new polling numbers out in the presidential derby, and it's looking better for John McCain.  From the Associated Press:

Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama's 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released Thursday.

The survey showed the extended Democratic primary campaign creating divisions among supporters of Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and suggests a tight race for the presidency in November no matter which Democrat becomes the nominee.

McCain is benefiting from a bounce since he clinched the GOP nomination a month ago. The four-term Arizona senator has moved up in matchups with each of the Democratic candidates, particularly Obama.

An AP-Ipsos poll taken in late February had Obama leading McCain 51-41 percent. The current survey, conducted April 7-9, had them at 45 percent each. McCain leads Obama among men, whites, Southerners, married women and independents.

Clinton led McCain, 48-43 percent, in February. The latest survey showed the New York senator with 48 percent support to McCain's 45 percent. Factoring in the poll's margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, Clinton and McCain are statistically tied.

On a different note, McCain is suggesting a boycott of the opening ceremonies of the coming summer Olympics in Beijing.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee joined his potential Democratic opponents in saying China has not earned leaders' attendance because of its human rights record, thus answering a question that has become a major test for world leaders.

"I believe President Bush should evaluate his participation in the ceremonies surrounding the Olympics and, based on Chinese actions, decide whether it is appropriate to attend," the Arizona Republican said in a statement issued after he discussed the boycott on ABC's "The View" program.

"If Chinese policies and practices do not change, I would not attend the opening ceremonies."

He's absolutely right.  In fact, I'd go a step further and say we shouldn't go anyway.  National Review has it right.  Giving the Chinese the games was a mistake from the start.  It was political.  All they wanted (and still want) is an opportunity to showcase a "new" China...when they're still playing from the same old sheet of music when it comes to democracy and human rights.  The bigger a PR disaster this thing turns out to be, (the torch business is just the beginning), the better.

Take the online poll at http://www.stevemc2.com

Well, you knew it woudl happen sooner or later, what with so many people ditching their land lines and just using the ubiquitous cell phone as their only phone.  But the country's oldest opinion polling company has decided that they'll now start calling people on their cell phones.  Great. 

...Gallup has been studying and investigating the implications of cell phone only households for well over a year now.  And, as of Jan. 1, 2008, Gallup has made the decision to include cell phone  interviewing as part of the sample used for its general population studies.

I suspect many have dropped their land lines for the same reason I did about six months ago - only telemarketers called me at home.  Pretty much anyone you really want to talk to has your cell phone number.

Well now, Gallup has it to.  And other pollsters are surely soon to follow.  As will a battle over using up people's minutes.

h/t Ruffini