I agree with jdog. Democrats, in most of the past elections, have been taken over by the far left of their party. This turns off a big chunk of the american voting populous, including moderate democrats. McCain was nominated this year, because enough of the party is moderate that he got the nod. That may bode well down the stretch as the middle begins to make up its mind. Obama is among the farthest left of the those that the dems could have nominated and, like with Kerry, Gore, and Carter it may come back to haunt them. Clinton lasted 8 years because he was a moderate and was able to capture some of the moderate Repubs. Obama will not.