Get ready for some breathless coverage of this.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain moved from being behind by 6 points among "likely" voters a month ago to a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama among that group in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. McCain still trails slightly among the broader universe of "registered" voters. By both measures, the race is tight.
It's way off today's 8-point Obama lead in the Gallup tracking poll, but that's nothing new.
More from the paper:
The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.
Among registered voters, McCain still trails Obama, but by less. He is behind by 3 percentage points in the new poll (47%-44%) vs. a 6-point disadvantage (48%-42%) in late June.
Like I said, expect this to lead lots of newscasts (on cable at least) and crowing right-wing blogs. It is newsworthy that any poll shows McCain ahead, since he hasn't been since May. And I'm surprised that McCain hits 49% - I was convinced he was running up against a 44-point ceiling.