but the sad reality is that is a truth that no presidential candidate dare speak for fear of becoming unelectable. And even if spoken, those hard truths would become yet more fodder for exploitative partisan negative political posturing.

I wish it were true that Americans would respond to a candidate telling them the truth, but it appears we are a "have your cake and eat it" sort of people.

More America-hating.

We're spoiled teenagers who don't want to see the dentist.

I do not think that president Obama is in any way going to win by default, rick. I think both the Dem base and the Repub base will, for the most part, vote for their party guy (though turnout of these folks may be quite crucial -- the Dems will directly use race to do so, and the Repubs will indirectly use race to do so). It is the unalligned voter (a.k.a. the independent voter) who I think is going to decide this election. From a political standpoint, the reality is that president Obama is the inside-the-beltway incumbant who has presided over an economic mess for four years, and has little of any meaningful track record to run on -- as much as he and his followers may wish it so, he can no longer run as the unBush or spout the empty and meaningless slogans of hope, change, and transparency.

Romney, on the other hand, is running as the successful outsider with big ideas. In bad times, wrongly or not, that is what the voter looks for. Of course, Romney does have the countervailing force of being -- well -- being Romney. Romney will have the advantage of moving a bit toward the middle where many of those "independents" tend to be. President Obama cannot risk doing that with losing some of his more extremist base. Either way, the state will get its cog -- new or slightly worn -- but the election will not be "Obama by Default".
Yours,
Issodhos

Even WND is stating that Republicans are leaning towards Obama.

WND of all people! (I was certainly surprised that WMD would admit such a thing!)

I Googled® "independents leaning towards Obama" and the Los Angeles Times came up first in the Google® search - so I didn't link to the site because of its perceived "librul" bias from some.

Here is the Google® search link. There are many sites stating the independents are leaning towards Obama.

Matters not to me. I'm only voting for CA proposition measures.

It's even worse for the Republicans at the moment than I would have thought, if the poll you cited is correct. But anything can happen twixt now and November. For instance, the Repubs today said that Obama had eaten dog meat. If all the dog lovers in the US took this to heart Obama would be the toast the dog meat is served on. Personally I have no problem with his having eaten dog meat. Why else would we have Chow Chows in the world?

I want to know who will be driving the Dog Meat bus?! And who will be thrown under it.

(Is there a peer-reviewed protocol for determining if a person is; a) thrown under the bus, b) falls in front of the bus, c) is secretly pushed by someone in the crowd under the bus, d) is intentionally run down by the bus driver?)

I'd wager that there is a 100% likelihood that at least one bus will be intentionally steered with career-homicidal intent between now and election day. It may well be that the thrown-under-the-bus metaphor will be so worn-thin transparent then that such events will not scratch our bewarted president and the default option will remain intact. The bus drivers may have to finally take some heat for their actions, ala Zimmerman (that there's a metaphor).

In our own small circle it appears that those most opposed to President Obama have no intention of voting for any candidate.
It appears also that the two most vocal are effectively protesting that the Obama War Machine is among the primary reasons for their opposition to his presidency. I think the ant-war movement is not going to be a factor against President Obama in the coming general election, nor will his propensity to rid himself of underlings who have become an embarrassment to him. As I see it they are blowing smoke and nothing more.

I feel that rampant unemployment may hinder President Obama's chances for re-election. Whether true or not-IMO- people will vote for Romney on the belief that he can create jobs and revive the private sector economy.

IMO- I believe that Romney will win the presidency.