McCain catching up

If you weren't at the Lowy Institute on Wednesday, then you missed a very entertaining and insightful muse on America by Don Watson. (As usual though, you can always listen to the podcast). During his talk, Don had an inclination that John McCain would ultimately prevail over his rival Democratic Senator in the epic US presidential contest. Right on cue the latest poll from the WSJ/NBC has McCain closing the gap on Obama (they are now in a statistical dead heat). How could this be you ask? It's more sinister than you imagined. Maureen Dowd has the scoop here.

Is the world about to be disappointed again by the realisation it doesn't have a say in electing the leader of the world's superpower? Not according to intrade — where Obama is still the favourite to win, by some margin.