It has been a mixed week for Sen. Barack H. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate. On the one hand, a Reuters/Zogby poll announced the junior senator from Illinois' 7-point lead over Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, has dissolved into a 5-point deficit. Mr. McCain now leads him 46 percent to 41 percent. On the other hand, the media have discovered Mr. Obama's long-lost half-brother, George Hussein Onyango (also spelled Owango) living quietly in Kenya. Among the rustics who compose the Democratic base, this discovery can only help Mr. Obama.
August 22, 2008