Ronnie, your post reminds a bit of the plight of the Democrats in 1984. Reagan's popularity was at such a height that some speculated that it could take decades for the Democrats to recover. He then held bigger leads in the polls than Obama currently enjoys. In fact, his popularity among young voters was cause for deep concern among the Dems.

There was brief optimism twice for Mondale in that race: after the Democratic Convention he pulled even in some polls; and after the first debate with Reagan, in which Mondale was much better prepared than Reagan, he made up a temporary chunk of ground.

But in the weeks before the election, Mondale was trailing in every state, including his own. I remember a Mondale regional volunteer-leader trying to start some enthusiasm by saying that California, Reagan's home state, was the closest state for Mondale (he was down by only 10 pct. points), and no candidate ever lost his home state and won the election.

Today the Republicans' task isn't quite as daunting, but they need a lot of things to happen to defeat Obama.