Bridge To Wal-Mart?

What a difference a day - and a 500-pt. drop in the stock market - makes. Obama's back on his toes, while McCain's scrambling away from his "fundamentals" comments. Palin has changed the dynamics of WH'08 before. Can her populist appeal give McCain some much-needed back-up?

-- Even before the 9/15 meltdown, there were signs Obama was gaining traction on the economy. From 9/7-12, Obama had a very slight lead over McCain on the issue of who'd best handle the economy in the daily Diageo/Hotline tracking poll. But the latest poll puts Obama ahead, by 11 pts.

-- Meanwhile, there are signs Palin is losing some of her luster. For first time since we asked the question, voters are now evenly split on whether she's prepared for the job. Before today, a small majority said she was. More ominous for Palin: the jump in the number of voters who say she's very unprepared - up 7 pts. since 9/7 to 35%.

-- If Palin's strongest appeal is among so-called Wal-Mart moms, shouldn't she spend more time empathizing w/them over the struggling economy and less time talking about the Bridge to Nowhere? If she just continues to tell her factually challenged version of events, will voters say "thanks, but no thanks" to her?