This, along with a two-point slide for Obama and a one-point gain for McCain in Tuesday's Gallup Daily national poll, has me concerned that Obama supporters are getting a little too comfortable with being on top.
Barack Obama himself challenged us to leave it all on the field. We've come this far for this candidate; do we not owe it to him and to ourselves to finish the race?
I remember the first 3200-meter ("two-mile") race I ever ran in high school. It was also the greatest race I ever ran. Hickory High School was Asheville's biggest rival. There were incidents of buses being hit with rocks, threats of violence and a general hatred between the two schools in 1981 (the year of this race) and 1982.
So when all four Hickory runners passed me, running together like a cross-country unit, I said, "Hell, no. I'm not going to get shut out by Hickory." I picked the fourth Hickory runner, a kid they called "Thor," and followed about 10 meters behind him for six of the eight laps. On the seventh lap, I kind of cruised along and just set the stage. When the bell rang for the final lap, I started to pick up the pace ever so slightly, measured just enough that I could catch him within 400 meters but not wear myself out too fast.
I caught Thor with 100 meters to go, as we were coming out of the fourth turn. He started to sprint, and I did, too. I was damned determined that he was not going to beat me. Looking at the finish line -- and I'll never forget this; I think doctors attribute it to oxygen deprivation -- my field of vision went black. I couldn't see anything except the lane in front of me and the finish line.
I beat Thor by one length. After that, we became pretty good friends and chatted up every time we saw each other at a meet.
I tell that story for inspiration, yes. But I also tell it to make a point: You need to get your vision tunneled as I had it that day (and never had it again on the track). We are coming out of that fourth turn, on the eighth lap, and John McCain's campaign is suddenly starting to sprint with us. Are we going to do what it takes to win?
Are you?
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