It’s a blue world.

The Canadian newspaper Globe & Mail is reporting the results of a worldwide poll of 70 countries that was conducted between May and September that found that most of the world supports a Barack Obama presidency:

Around the world, respondents favoured Mr. Obama 4 to 1 over Republican John McCain.

In Canada, 67 per cent chose Mr. Obama and 22 per cent Mr. McCain. And 75 per cent of Canadian respondents said the presidential election would make a difference for their own country.

The Democratic nominee also enjoyed levels of support higher than 60 per cent in Australia, Germany, England and Japan, where the U.S. election was viewed as having a global impact.

Around the world, only Georgia, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines backed the Republican candidate.

On Oct. 17, 2004, John Kerry’s victory over George Bush appeared to be all but assured:

With just 16 days to go until the vote, the race couldn’t be tighter.

Polls suggest a dead heat. Even Republican organizers concede the Democratic senator has benefited from his performance in the three presidential debates.

And a Washington Post poll shows Kerry with a significant lead in important states that could decide the outcome of the election. The poll found Kerry held a 53 per cent to 43 per cent lead among likely voters in 13 such states.

While Kerry was campaigning in two of those states on Sunday – Ohio and Florida – [George] Bush took the day off, choosing instead to concentrate on a major speech on terrorism he is scheduled to deliver in New Jersey on Monday.

Analysts say it is the handful of crucial swing states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida that will be most important on Nov. 2. Those states will be heavily targeted by both campaigns in the closing weeks of the race.

Back then, it was Swiftboating, along with a concerted effort by the GOP to suppress or steal votes, particularly in Ohio, that handed victory to Bush.

This year, it appears that the McCain campaign’s Swiftboating tactics — lying about Obama’s associations with William Ayers and ACORN and its hatefilled robocalls in which sub rosa messaging links Obama to terrorism — as well as concerted efforts to steal votes that are undoubtedly underway, that will likely hand the presidency to John McCain.

Ohioans on their way to a Sarah Palin rally were only too happy to express their views of Barack Obama to a reporter from Al Jazeera. Transcription via Gedblog:

“I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

“When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first stringer. He’s definitely a second stringer.”

“He seems like a sheep – or a wolf in sheep’s clothing to be honest with you. And I believe Palin – she’s filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she’s gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House.”

“He’s related to a known terrorist, for one.”

“He is friends with a terrorist of this country!”

“He must support terrorists! You know, uh, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me is Obama.”

“Just the whole, Muslim thing, and everything, and everybody’s still kinda – a lot of people have forgotten about 9/11, but — I dunno, it’s just kinda … a little unnerving.”

“Obama and his wife, I’m concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that.”

And this gem:

“I don’t like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash — because we’re not!”

A white Obama supporter outside the rally says he is starting to fear the rising hatred among his neighbors. “I’ve been called the N-word. I’ve been called a Muslim. I’ve been called a — ah — un-American. I’m worried. These people… The tension’s getting thicker and thicker. People like that. It’s starting to scare me … To be specific, I’m afraid some of these people might try to hurt Obama.”

This report and others underscore that Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi was prescient when he described witnessing Palin’s speech at the GOP convention in St. Paul as like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.

ABC News:

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos reports: Barack Obama’s presidential campaign shattered all records in September by raising more than $150 million, the campaign announced in an e-mail to supporters this morning.

Obama’s haul more than doubles his previous monthly best of $67 million, which came during August of this year, and will further fuel his financial advantage over John McCain.

Since accepting public funds after being nominated for president at the Republican Convention in early September, McCain has been limited to spending $84 million, although the Republican National Committee has raised additional money on his behalf.

Obama has been putting his financial advantage to good use, and in recent weeks has massively outspent McCain on television ads. During the second week of October, Obama spent $32 million blanketing the airwaves in the key battleground states, while McCain and the RNC combined to spend only $16 million.

Obama’s campaign says its September fundraising was fueled by 632,000 donors, giving the campaign a total of 3.1 million since launching early last year.

Obama is right — don’t get complacent:

A new Gallup Poll of likely voters has Democrat Barack Obama with a 49 percent to 47 percent lead over Arizona Sen. John McCain.

That puts McCain closer in the presidential race than other polls, which have Obama with leads of between 3 and 14 percentage points, according to Real Clear Politics.

McCain has sought in recent days to sharpen his economic message and questioning Obama’s ties to 1960s radical Bill Ayers. The Gallup poll was conducted among 2,100 likely voters.