He is African-American, and a fairly sizable proportion of White Voters will NEVER VOTE for an African-American.

The Advisors for Senator Obama are acting as if his win in inevitable, thus they want to hold on to all of the traditional Democratic groups.

Despite these poll numbers, this does not suggest doom and gloom for Obama. Quite the contrary.
There are actually remarkable parallels between 1980 and 2008:

(1) In August 1980 Jimmy Carter, despite the years of successive national humiliations of the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, was still about 2 points ahead of Reagan.
**Echoes of McCain's seemingly inexplicable high numbers, despite the poison of the GOP brand in past years.**

(2) Reagan, for all his likability and the American public's distaste for Carter, was finding it hard to close the deal with the American people. Carter had been hammering him as a lightweight ex-movie actor
** McCain's “Celeb” ad.**

(3) At least Carter was a known…Reagan was an unknown.
**Obama's “thin resume” meme, as promoted by McCain's team.**

(4) The Conventions were more important than usual though.
Reagan was so worried about falling numbers, he negotiated with former President Ford to add prestige to the ticket. Ford, wisely, backed out — seeing obvious negatives in implying Reagan's weakness.
**Will Obama – contra Reagan – be tempted by the prospect of quick poll boost to have HRC for VP?**

For the Democrats, Kennedy badly damaged Carter by dragging the contest into the convention.
** Will the Clinton's echo Kennedy's bad grace and vengfulness…and covertly damage Obama?**

(5) Reagan's debate with Anderson — who was expected to blow away Reagan the lightweight — showed Reagan wasn't the total airhead Carter's ads played him to be. Almost instantly, Reagan's numbers began moving. His debate against Carter clinched it.
**I am sure the Obama “lightweight” meme will disappear overnight when the vast majority of the public sees his debate performance. Not all Americans will agree with Obama, of course….but they will see that Obama is not a “dumb blonde” by any stretch. As with Reagan, the meme will vanish overnight.**

Thus, while I believe history favors Obama — if he follows Reagan's lead — the Clinton (Kennedy redux) Wild Card is certainly something Democrats should worry about. Conversely, of course, McCain could pull a rabbit out of his hat.

If the 1980 parallel holds true, the Conventions will be VERY important.

You get sent in against a wounded opponent and you play to a tie. Not a particularly impressive performance.