Barr None

I've been insisting that Obama's secret weapon this year is Bob Barr. No one else seems to think he'll make a difference, but I'd guess he takes a fair number of votes from McCain, and if the election is close, that matters.

Sunday's ABC/Washington Post poll suggests I may be right. Actually, they did two polls--one with and one without the other name candidates. Obama versus McCain head-on has Obama ahead 49-45, but when Barr and Nader are added, Obama gets 48 and McCain 42, while Barr and Nader both get 3.

Third party support often evaporates as you get close to the election, but if Barr and even Nader can be polling anywhere near those numbers, I think it'll hurt McCain.