Eight days to go…

The three major polling aggregators all agree that Democrat Barack Obama has locked up states that give him between 259 and 268 Electoral College votes.

He needs just 270 to win the presidency. So he begins the last full week of campaigning poised at the finish line.

Republican John McCain has secured states that promise him somewhere between 137 and 142 EC votes.

He’s in far worse shape than he was when he captured the Republican nomination way back in March.

I know it’s crass for bloviators to call an election before the votes have been cast. So I’ll raise two possibilities for these final days:

1. Some kind of major game-changing event occurs — massive in scope — that would open a door to McCain. A minor gaffe won’t do it.

or –

2. The only question on election night will be “How big is Obama’s victory – a narrow win in the Democratic Party tradition, or something more profound?”