To me, one of the remarkable moments of last night was Gergen on CNN - he went "there".

[NRaleighLiberal]

I watched the debate, was proud of how Obama crushed McCain, then spun the dials to watch some of the punditry. CNN, with their 1,500 or so pundits crammed in with their laptops (we need a screenshot - looked like a typical corporate meeting!), had a few good ones - Carville, King, a few others essentially saying that with some of the snap polls (likeability, leadership, presidentialness) showing Obama crushing McCain, and the current polling spread, said it was essentially over.

Pan to David Gergen. He said, yes, it should be, but "we don't know if America can elect a black man to be president". The whole body language thing was amazing - people squirmed, as Gergen finally acknowledged the elephant in the room. How he got into it was wondering of "the polling for Obama can be trusted".

More discussion - it was Carville who stated the zinger - if Obama goes into Nov 4 with a 6 point polling lead and loses, there will be "hell to pay" - he was alluding, I believe, to two things - fixing the election, and racism.

We are in for an amazing ride the next few weeks.

[Aloha Spirit]

1. And I agreed with Carville, it will be "dramatic" if Obama loses with a 5% polling lead going in.

[AllentownJake]

2. it will be assumed voter fraud

and there will be a revolution.

[spinbaby]

3. No, not voter fraud

Election fraud.

[Doctor_J]

5. You wish

It will be spun to be the Bradley/Ford effect, and Survivor will go on as usual. Sorry, but the truth hurts.

[Lerkfish]

6. election fraud, not voter fraud

[AllentownJake]

8. Thanks for the correction

[Lerkfish]

9. no problem, I wasn't being mean, but its a HIGHLY important distinction.

[screembloodymurder]

4. He was referring to riots.

There will be hell to pay.

[Virginia Dare]

7. I'm reminded of my dear departed Grandmother in Law..

raised in the Jim Crow segregated south, and her grandfather fought for the Confederacy.

Towards the end of her life she was a very sick woman, and I remember her saying that she'd come to realize that it really didn't matter what color a person was, if they were good at what they did, helped her and treated her right, then she accepted them no matter what, and she respected them for it. She was able to see that skin color made absolutely no difference in a person's character or worth.

I think Americans are now coming to that collective conclusion at this moment.

[No Elephants]

10. Geez, they want to come up ANYthing to deny how badly McCain is doing. The so called Allard effect

would have to be huge to account for these polls. And how does Guergen account for states that were perfectly happy to be polling red until Palin and the economy going blue now? Clutching at straws, whistling past the graveyard--Pick your cliche to describe what they are doing.