ZOGBY: McCain 50%, Obama 46%

Zogby says:

Clearly, Palin is helping the McCain ticket. She has high favorability numbers, and has unified the Republican Party. The striking thing here in this poll is that McCain has pulled ahead among Catholics by double-digits.

"Striking," perhaps, but not really surprising. A mother of five with a pregnant 17-year-old is sure to swing the traditional Catholics. (And Joe Biden is one of those pro-choice "Catholics" that real Catholics can't stand.)

So it looks very good now, though Ace cautions:

I would say something stupid right now like "It's over, Obama is toast."
The trouble is, there are still five or six major twists to come in this thriller.

Yeah, three presidential debates and a vice-presidential debate, to name four of those twists. Yet who can argue with the simple truth that, with this one decision, John McCain has totally electrified a conservative base that had hitherto been Laodicean at best? One thing for sure: She's no Tom Eagleton.