Lots of national polls to suggest that the Palin/Convention bounce has ended for McCain. On Sept. 8, four days after the convention, the RCP National Average had McCain up nearly 3 points, while today the Average has Obama up almost 2 points. We'll just have to see if Obama can generate any momentum, or if this race is going to remain essentially tied at least going into the first debate on Sept. 26.

One could credit the return of the economy to forefront of the election for raising Obama's numbers, but also we should note that the campaign has been on the attack recently. For the better part of two weeks the Palin honeymoon seemed to have unnerved the Obama campaign. While the economy has given Obama a reason to refocus the campaign's message, it has also shifted the debate away from Palin, which was a losing debate for Obama -- at least until we see her performance against Biden on Oct. 2.