Keller @ Large

Keller: Ads Could Be Helping McCain Gain Ground

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Barack Obama arrived in Boston on Monday, where he marked his 47th birthday at a downtown fundraiser expected to pump $5 million into his campaign fund. But while the money keeps rolling in for the presumptive Democratic nominee, his latest poll numbers are nothing to celebrate.

It's a sign of potential trouble -- if Obama can't complete his pivot from the insurgent phenomenon of the primary season to a reassuring potential leader of anxious swing voters. He'd better hurry, because it looks like the McCain campaign has found a way to turn Obama's own branding against him.

It began with a TV ad coupling sarcasm with a serious message.

Commercial: Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling, and says he'll raise taxes on electricity?

Like it or not, it worked. Obama has dropped 18 points among independents in the last week, according to the respected Rasmussen tracking poll, which has the race in a dead heat.

And while it's hard to judge the impact of this Web ad mocking the Obama campaign's often self-congratulatory tone, it's the best example yet of how the McCain campaign is cleverly using humor to dismiss their less-well-known opponent as a pompous lightweight.

In the wake of his foreign trip and its flowery promises to heal the world, Obama's favorability rating has dipped to its lowest level in two months, reports Rasmussen.

"I think we've got work to do there, this is not all about bringing in big crowds," said Congressman Stephen Lynch of South Boston, a former Hillary Clinton supporter now backing Obama. "There's a seriousness to the side of being president as well that doesn't necessarily lend itself to that kind of glamour. So I think Sen. Obama has to speak to that side of the job, this is not glamour."

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