Obama bounces to +9

St. Hopey's got his biggest lead so far in the Gallup daily tracking poll -- 49% to 40% for Crazy Cousin John.

Notice that McCain has actually lost three points since Wednesday. Could this be a backlash against McCain's new aggressive approach? So far, there's no sign of a negative impact from the Landstuhl controversy for Obama, but it's probably too early to tell.

Remember: This tracking poll is a three-day sample averaging results from Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Obama's press coverage Thursday was all sunshine and cuddly bunnies, and it wasn't until Friday that the blogosphere and talk-radio jumped all over the Landstuhl controversy. I wouldn't be surprised if Monday's Gallup tracker showed Obama losing a couple of points off his lead.

(Rasmussen's latest has Obama ahead by 5 points, 49%-44% including "leaners.)

It's too soon to tell how this will play out, though. On the day Obama landed in Afghanistan, I said we'd have to wait until July 31 to know the net impact of his trip. We just have to wait and see.