This race is close because...............

[Timmy5835]

It's ONLY summer. No one is paying that close of attention to this race yet and won't until after Labor Day. You should really see the numbers change then.

[BlooInBloo]

1. It'll remain neck-and-neck right up until election day.

[DJ13]

2. ........the MSM doesnt want Obama to pull away

That wont change after the conventions either.

[Timmy5835]

3. Exactly

For ratings success this has to be a horse race. The media will have nothing less. But NOW you have the internet rendering the MSM less and less relevant. It should be interesting.

[zbdent]

4. Whining McCain hasn't received the media attention he should have ...

thus, if he faced the media scrutiny that Obama has, he would be more humiliated than Dewey ...

[Donald Ian Rankin]

5. Obama is in most ways the better candidate, while McCain is right wing.

Obama has the advantages of charisma, better policies and more money.

McCain has the advantage of being a right-wing candidate in a very right-wing country; he also had a much less gruelling primary that's given him a head start.

Those balance out, although hopefully over time Obama's personal and financial advantages will start to weigh more heavily.