define fear.

"mccain's personality." - george will.

simply stated, when the race is about personality {peripheral} mccain does better. conversely, when the race is about real, fundamental issues {important, relevant} obama does better. nothing prophetic, of course. a fundamental truth, perhaps?

in other words, when you distract individuals from their personal grief and perpetual instability with mtv/gossip blog-style fanaticism, you have a chance of winning. i really hope obama pulls this off.