TRACKERS

Posted at 3:15 p.m. ET

We now have six tracking polls to contend with, and five have been published for today.  Rasmussen has Obama up five; Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby and Hotline have him up six; Gallup, which is now giving two confusing numbers, has him up either six or ten, depending on what method you use;  Battleground, which has been erratic, has him up 13, which is an outlier.

The one we're waiting for is IBD/TIPP, which had Obama up only two yesterday.  That poll had the best track record in 2004, but that's no guarantee of anything except longevity.

The final presidential debate is tomorrow night, and may mark McCain's last chance to turn things around.  At this hour it appears that yesterday's stock-market rally has faded out.  With 40 minutes to go the Dow is down 142, not great news for McCain, who'd like to see bad economic news off the front page.

Check back for the IBD/TIPP result, which should be published a bit later.

October 14, 2008.