DNC Convention Opens - Can They Deliver?

The Democrats are in a bit of a tizzy as they scramble to figure out a good answer to the tried and true Reagan-era question: Are you better off today than four years ago?

Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley bluntly said, “No,” people are not better off than four years ago. On Fox News Sunday, senior Obama reelection strategist David Axelrod gave an answer than ran one minute and five seconds.

In the aftermath, top counselor Robert Gibbs said, “You’ll find the president Thursday largely address the ‘better off’ question, pointing out that we are no longer facing the imminent collapse of the economy.”
Still, the political context is grim, and Obama’s team knows it. Unemployment is higher (up to 8.3 percent from 7.8 percent); median real wages are down (to $50,964 from $54,983), gas prices are up (to $3.78 per gallon from $1.85), and the national debt is up (to $15.9 trillion from $10.6 trillion). Those are not the only measuring sticks, but they track closely with voters’ perceptions of where we are going: In six national polls this month, the average “right track” number was 33 percent and the average “wrong track” number was 63 percent.

All of this happens on the cusp of the opening of the Democratic National Committee's convention. The lapdog media are doing their best to put a happy spin on things. On CNN Monday morning, their political reporter in Charlotte said that the protesters aren't really just protesting President Obama, you know, they are protesting "the system". OK, then.

     According to recent polling, Mitt Romney is favored over President Obama by North Carolina voters:

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Charlotte, a new poll indicates Mitt Romney has a slight advantage in this battleground state. According to an Elon University/Charlotte Observer/Raleigh News & Observer survey released Monday, the Republican presidential nominee holds a 47%-43% advantage over President Barack Obama among likely voters in North Carolina. The GOP challenger's four point margin over Obama is within the poll's sampling error. The survey was conducted August 25-30, just before and during Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida.
 

     I won't be surprised to find the difference wider in favorability now that a few more days have passed.  It will be interesting to read the numbers as the Democrats leave town at the end of the week.  Can President Obama seal the deal this time?