I Wish I Felt Less Uneasy About This

We're starting to see "Obama's won it" stories pop up all over the place.

McClatchy Newspapers is running a story with the headline, "Daring to utter the 'L' word: Obama on track to a landslide".

WASHINGTON — Barring a dramatic change in the political landscape over the next three weeks, Democrats appear headed toward a decisive victory on Election Day that would give them broad power over the federal government.

[snip]

Three renowned analysts of congressional races — Cook, Sabato and Stuart Rothenberg — this week all increased their forecasts of Democratic gains.

In the House, they expect the Democrats to pick up 15 to 30 seats. In the Senate, they expect the Democrats to pick up six to nine.

"I now can't rule out 60 seats for this November," Rothenberg said. That's the magic number a majority needs under Senate rules to break filibusters — and something that no party or president has enjoyed for nearly three decades.

All tend to agree that the Democrats are all but certain to pick up Senate seats in New Mexico and Virginia. Other potential gains are in Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, Oregon, Minnesota, Mississippi, Kentucky and North Carolina.

In North Carolina, Dole trails by an average of 2 points. In Kentucky, McConnell leads by an average of just 7 points — he won by 65 percent to 35 percent in 2002.

Even in solidly Republican Georgia, Sen. Saxby Chambliss finds himself in a fight, leading by only 3 points.

"When you're paying attention to Georgia and Kentucky, wow," Cook said. "Who would have thought Republicans would be having problems in places like this?"

Politico says:

Barring a game-changing performance at Wednesday's debate, which is the last set piece of the cycle, expect pundits rushing to stay ahead of the curve to be penning Obama coronations and McCain lookbacks by Thursday morning.

We'll rush ahead of them by saying it's hard to see a path to 270 for McCain barring a new crisis that knocks the economy off of the front page, or at least below the fold.

And this Miami Herald story gives a peek at the finger-pointing that's already started in the Republican Party.

''There are a lot of folks who have never been in a foxhole before and are clearly nervous,'' said Brian Ballard, a major McCain fundraiser. ``There is some finger-pointing going on a little bit too soon.''

Even Gov. Charlie Crist, who helped deliver Florida for McCain during the primary, said he will spend the final weeks before Election Day minding the state's weak economy rather than campaigning for the Arizona senator.

''When I have time to help, I'll try to do that,'' Crist said last week, after he flew around the state with McCain running mate Sarah Palin. Saturday, he skipped a McCain football rally and instead went to Disney World.

Once considered a potential running mate, Crist had pledged to do all he could for McCain and spent several days this summer campaigning for the Republican nominee in and outside Florida. He faults the tough economic times for McCain's difficult time in Florida, where he trails rival Barack Obama by about 5 percentage points in the polls.

Obviously, we'd rather be reading stories about Obama being on top that the other guy. But take it from Al Gore, Tom Bradley, and Douglas Wilder: It ain't over 'til it's over. Okay, that was Yogi Berra, but you get the message.

Update: Steve Clemons at The Washington Note is uneasy, too.