5) Vladimir Putin delivered a timely reminder that the world is not Scarsdale. With Russian tanks rolling across international borders and an embattled, democratically elected president of a tiny country pleading for support from the West, Barack Obama looked and sounded tinny and inexperienced. McCain's no-nonsense determination made a nice contrast.
6) The American press's infatuation with Obama has begun to backfire. Forty-eight percent of the public said in a recent poll that they are "hearing too much" about the Democratic nominee and are tiring of it.
7) The economy refuses to dive into a real recession.
8) The long, long slog of the presidential campaign is paying dividends to McCain as people begin to wake from Obamamania and ask "Just what has this young man done to qualify him for the highest office?"
Luck and fortune are clearly on McCain's side. But they are nothing if not fickle. By all the usual political calculations, this should be a Democratic year. It will require the continuing favor of the Fates to keep it from being so.