Matt Ortega

Early in the primary season, the pundits often praised Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) for the once-moderate record on immigration that set him apart from the rest of the Republican contenders. The punditocracy, apparently, believing that the blatant scapegoating of Latinos for everything that goes wrong is so rampant in the Republican Party that GOP lawmakers must receive praise for not doing it. Pundits argued that this made John McCain a more palatable GOP presidential nominee to Hispanic voters than the others.

Or so went the conventional wisdom.

Gallup, the respected polling outfit, released new numbers that showed Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois), the presumptive Democratic nominee, crushing John McCain among Hispanic voters, 62-29.

Polling data across the board looks incredibly strong for Senator Obama.

Senator Obama leads in three of the four regions: 50-40 in the East, 47-43 in the Midwest, and 50-43 in the West.

Voters with high school or less education trend towards McCain by three points. McCain leads by two points among those with some college education. The two are tied among college graduates and postgraduates are breaking 54 percent for Obama and 41 percent for McCain.

Despite all the talk about working class voters, Senator Obama leads McCain with voters earning less than $2,000 a month, 53-36. The two candidates are tied with voters earning $2,000 to $4,999 at 46 points each. McCain narrowly leads among those earning $5,000 to $7,499 a month, and those earning $7,500 or more a month.

John McCain: the rich president rich folks have been waiting for.

In all, these are stunningly strong numbers for Senator Obama, who just wrapped up the nomination this week. Meanwhile, John McCain became the presumptive nominee following his victories in Ohio and Texas — back in March.

The pundits claimed McCain would have a three month head start to the general election where he would solidify his base (he has not), increase his fundraising numbers (his recent receipts pale in comparison to the Obama’s lobbyist-free money machine) and build some space and momentum between himself and the Democratic nominee, which he has not.

John McCain squandered the last ninety days of an opponent-less general election. Instead, he spent the whole time firing lobbyists with sketchy track records from his campaign and raise money with the radioactive President.