People, I know there are a lot of people who are fearing the worst and are already hedging their expectations and licking their wounds.
Stop it.
It is way too early for that. WAY TOO EARLY.
Here are 5 reasons why:
1) Those "undecided" voters in the middle are fickle. We had them in bunches a couple of weeks ago and they suddenly went the other way. Expect some of them to come back.
2) There's an advantage of being an underdog and that's the advantage of knowing that the only way you can go is up. When you have nothing to lose, you can do anything you want and shrug off the consequences. Romney is still the same guy who inexplicably flubs at softballs and we've learned during the Republican debates that the man has a hard time putting his rivals away. Romney no longer has the freedom that being a clear underdog affords you.
3) There are two debates left. Obama has been clutch before. Everyone has a really bad day at the office once in a while. He will be clutch again.
4) A 50-50 race was a scenario that the Obama campaign had been prepared for right from the start. That's what the ground game is all about.
5) While the polling has definitely adjusted in Romney's direction, the results have definitely been quirky and noisy. We know the direction they're shifting, but we don't truly know by how much. Obama had a lot of cushion so even if the polls are mostly correct, the slightest margin of error brings a lot of states back into the Blue column.
Stay upbeat and if you spot a hand wringing bed wetter, tell 'em to snap out of it. IT'S WAY TOO EARLY FOR THAT KIND OF CRAP.
The only kind of "What If" game you should be playing right now is the "What if I could knock on another 10 doors or if I could donate another $10?"
Three weeks is a lot of time in this wildly unpredictable election. Live it up. Growing a spine for the party begins at home.