According to Newsweek, Barack Obama has opened up a 15 point lead over John McCain, a margin I and others have predicted for months now that Obama would beat McCain by.
But I say this, beating McCain by 15 points is not enough. We need to remain involved, enthused, and prepared for the smears and vitriol that will still be coming our way.
First, what you need to do is think big and talk big. If you saw the Pew Research study done on the issues earlier this year, you should recognize that we as progressives are not simply a majority in this country but we are a supermajority. Thus you should be looking at any election against a conservative as one in which you should win 75-25. If you are in Alabama, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, or Oklahoma, see yourself as a slim majority that needs to get others to overcome the fear of local right wingers getting violent when they don't get their way.
Second, the corporate media is going to be doing everything possible to try and turn this into a horserace because a) They want McCain to win; and b) a horserace increases ratings. Thus we must be vigilant and denounce all the networks and major newspapers EVERY single time they a) cover up for McCain, b) smear Obama, or c) lie through their teeth.
Now the bigger picture.
Right wing conservative republicans like John McCain are a small fraction of the American society but this small fraction of people (approximately 15-25% of the population) have done more harm to this nation than all other groups of people combined.
Winning 55-40 (with 5% going to other candidates) would mean that there are still 40% of voting Americans who are either evil, wilfully ignorant, or monumentally stupid. And 40% is too many. Right wing conservatism needs to be relegated to the ashheap of history. These people need to be defeated and never accommodated. They should be given no power whatsoever to make laws, enforce laws, or interpet laws and they need to have that power lawfully taken from them step by step.
If there are still 40% of Americans who would vote for John McCain after all that has happened the past 8 years, then we still have lots of work to do in this country because we are not out of the woods until these right wing conservatives are a political afterthought. We need to ensure that at least 75% of us at all times are working to help elect some version of either a progressive leaning candidate or a liberal leaning candidate. Right wing conservative candidates should never be the 1st option, the 2nd option, or even the 3rd option.
So keep rebutting the smears.
Keep informing others.
Keep doing those bake sales.
Keep exposing the media hacks.
And when the polls show Obama up 15, work that much harder to make it more than that.