It seems like just yesterday that every media outlet within the country would have you believing that Senator Obama was going to be the next President of the United States, and that he would win the election in a major landslide.  Now with about a month and a half before Election Day, many major polls show Senator McCain leading Senator Obama, including today's Gallup Tracking Poll which has McCain leading Obama by a margin of 48-47% (Source Gallup Polling).  It seems that Senator Obama's fall from grace is the result of a culmination of many individual factors aligning against him all at once.

The first factor is: The Sarah Palin Effect -  Aside from the timing of announcing her as the VP nominee (during Obama's convention) I really didn't believe that Sarah Palin would do much for McCain's campaign.  I figured what would a relatively unknown governor from Alaska bring to the ticket?  Not having too much pride, I can readily admit that I was wrong on all counts about Sarah Palin.  Not only has Sarah Palin delivered a boost to Senator McCain, in my estimation she delivered a key to the White House.  The Sarah Palin effect started before she was even announced as McCain's running mate, it started the day Obama selected his VP nominee, Joe Biden.  The Hillary Clinton supporters, especially the females, who expected Obama to pick her as VP, took the snub as a slap in the face and became even more disenchanted to Obama.  When McCain announced that he was picking Sarah Palin as his VP nominee, it gave many of the females who supported Clinton a female to align themselves with in this race.  Furthering her impact on the ticket, Sarah Palin helped to unite the Republican party.  Senator McCain alone did not appeal to many Republicans, especially the more conservative breed, however, with Sarah Palin on board it helps that more conservative Republicans support this ticket.

While on the topic of Vice Presidental nominees, Joe Biden - Why Senator Obama selected Joe Biden