My readers in Iraq

My most recent article in the American Spectator draws a letter to the editor from Michael Tomlinson, who's stationed at Camp Habbaniyah, Iraq:

Robert Stacy McCain is too easily swayed and frightened by polls. While John McCain may be slightly behind or even tied with Obama in the polls the good news is Obama isn't doing as well as his Democrat predecessors at this time in the election cycle.

"Frightened by polls"? I'm not frightened. I was just including a "state of the race" assessment in a feature article about McCain's appearance in Pennsylvania when I wrote:

That the result on Nov. 4 could hinge on Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes is an optimistic forecast for a candidate who continues to trail his Democratic rival in recent national polls. No Republican presidential candidate has carried Pennsylvania since 1988, and recent statewide polls show Sen. Barack Obama leading by more than 7 points. . . .

While polls are flawed intruments, they are the only evidence we have to assess voter support for the candidates at this point. It's certainly possible that Obama's support will collapse in the next 82 days, but to assume such a collapse is to go beyond the available evidence.

I'm lousy at predictions, and I don't do cheerleading, but I didn't mean to offend Mr. Tomlinson or any other Republican by pointing out that the odds are against a McCain victory. As McCain himself said, he is the underdog.