14 Points

That's how much the latest New York Times/CBS News poll has Obama ahead nationally, 53-39 percent. It looks like the McCain campaign's nuclear strategy (or, as Palin would say, "nuke-you-lar") isn't working:

After several weeks in which the McCain campaign unleashed a series of strong political attacks on Mr. Obama, trying to tie him to a former 1960s radical, among other things, the poll found that more voters see Mr. McCain as waging a negative campaign than Mr. Obama. Six in 10 voters surveyed said that Mr. McCain had spent more time attacking Mr. Obama than explaining what he would do as president; by about the same number, voters said Mr. Obama was spending more of his time explaining than attacking.

And here's some wonderful news - Palin herself is cited as one of the top reasons McCain has seen his support erode:

Voters who said their opinions of Mr. Obama had changed recently were twice as likely to say they had grown more favorable as to say they had worsened. And voters who said that their views of Mr. McCain had changed were three times more likely to say that they had worsened than to say they had improved.

The top reasons cited by those who said they thought less of Mr. McCain were his recent attacks and his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.

Well, ain't that pretty. For the record, Nate Silver projects a current Obama lead of 8.1 points,
and he expects the race to tighten a bit before Election Day - but just a bit.

20 days, folks. Hold on to your butts.