Game, Set and …

Now hold on.

You are not going to hear me say that this election is over. Sure every national poll has Barack Obama ahead and Real Clear Politics has Obama leading McCain in the all important Electoral College competition 313-158 (with 67 up for grabs).

The latest poll here in Wisconsin has Obama ahead by 17 points and he’s leading in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada, and even Virginia.

But three weeks can be a lifetime in politics. Polls have proven to be wrong before, the race issue simmers under the radar screen and angry partisans are calling on John McCain and Sarah Palin to go after Barack Obama with everything they got.

The overwhelming evidence does, of course, suggest that Obama is going to win on November 4th. Obama has run an exemplary campaign that built an effective grassroots movement while maintaining a disciplined and focused national organization.

The candidate has energized young people unlike anything we have seen since Eugene McCarthy while conveying competence and confidence that appealed to all demographics.

Also, national and world events seem to be conspiring in Obama’s favor. Even McCain supporters acknowledge that the more the economy dominates the election, the better it is for Obama. And dominate it has. The catastrophic events that have decimated Wall Street have altered the political landscape overwhelming the Iraq War, health care, and everything else.

And, of course, McCain has failed to respond effectively to this barrage of challenges. His selection of Palin as a running mate briefly rejuvenated his campaign by finally giving the Republican base something to cheer. But that bump was short-lived as the economic crisis exploded and Palin’s appeal did McCain little good with independents and undecided voters.

Despite all this, I do not wish to engage in a premature post mortem of the election. There are still 21 days left and no one can predict with certainty how this thing will end up.

But there are a handful of things that need to be said at this juncture.

First, GOTV is all important. All of the fundraising and ads and lawn signs and bumper stickers and office openings and coffees don’t amount to a hill of beans unless folks get out and vote. Again, the Obama campaign appears well-positioned to run an effective GOTV operation with all those offices and volunteers but time will tell.

Second, whoever wins will need to launch a Herculean effort to bring our nation together following the election. Remember George W. Bush’s pledge to return civility to Washington? Even he admitted, to Bob Woodward, that he failed at that goal.

And it can’t just be lip service or window dressing. Sure, anyone can appoint some likable character from the other party to the new cabinet. The need is for a drastic reconfiguring of the way things are done in Washington, substantively and stylistically.

Both Obama and McCain seem to recognize this. It doesn’t just appear in their talking points; it seems imbedded in their DNA.

Can they pull it off? Again, stay tuned.

Finally, the economy is going to get worse before it gets better. The current financial crisis is only beginning to be felt by most people. The all important holiday season is about to start and sales will undoubtedly go down, unemployment will go up and most of the affected people will look to government for help.

And after delivering the goods to bail out Wall Street (in order, of course, to protect Main Street), it will be difficult to avoid doing something.

So, Game, Set and Match?

No, my friends, now is not the time to gloat.

In fact, whoever wins next month won’t have long to celebrate.

The real work will just begin.