Fuzzy Race

Everywhere you go, polls show the presidential race is too close to call anything but a statistical tie. The latest poll of voters, for example, shows Obama with a five-point lead over his rival, McCain (50 to 45 percent), which grows even tighter when the two most prominent third party candidates are weighed into the equation.

The race for the White House, however, will not come down to votes taken by third party candidates such as Bob Barr (3 percent) and Ralph Nader (6 percent). Nor will it rest on sloganeering, promises fraught with pander, or change everyone can believe in, yet no one can understand.

What will decide the fate of the country is a vision that galvanizes Americans—desperate for change—into thinking about what they can do about the deepening credit crisis; the slump in home sales and home prices; skyrocketing energy costs; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; people’s poverty; immigration reform; Medicare and Social Security; discrimination; white collar corruption and blue collar rights; salmonella outbreaks; and everything that matters to America.

The latest CNN Opinion Research offers telling statistics about the race, but if you don’t believe the polls, go by your gut instinct—saying to vote for the candidate that’s not left, not right, just right.