The new Gallup poll showing McCain and Obama tied is very, very welcome in McCainLand. McCain aides insist that two earlier polls--from Newsweek and the LA Times--showing Obama with a double-digit lead were the result of skewed partisan samples and not reflective of real trouble. But they acknowledge that such polls can shape the media narrative in very problematic ways. So from a meta- perspective, this is a big respite from an impending storyline of a McCain disaster.
--Michael Crowley