Guess the Notre Dame mock  election was exactly right.

The latest Gallup poll must be making Barack Obama crack that wide smile of his, and his opponent, John McCain, clench his teeth into a grimace to end all grimaces. Gallup puts Obama at 52% while McCain has tumbled down to 41% after a week of financial disaster and poor debate showings. Many pundits are proudly declaring the race over, even with nearly a month left to go in the campaign.

Today McCain is getting her hard on his new economic proposal for the government to buy up every house in the country (or something like that), because it would shaft taxpayers and give benefits to big companies. Obama on the other hand is riding a tidal wave of support following two (three, if you count Biden) strong debate performances that allegedly swayed a lot of undecided voters (which is presumably now reflected in the Gallup poll). Unless McCain has a third Hail Mary up his sleeve (1. Palin, 2. “Suspending” his campaign) there doesn’t appear to be anything short of an alien invasion that would turn this election around for him. Although with the way things are going, the aliens would probably like Obama.