Editor's note. I'm very interested in your thoughts on ideas on this. Please write me at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

I've long since learned to listen both to my readers and to my wife. For the most part those who take the time to read TN&V fully understand that Senator Barack Obama is pro-abortion from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Likewise, most who read this daily blog know without being reminded that Sen. John McCain has a superb voting record on abortion.

The irony is that neither candidate gets full "credit" for their position, not only among the public at large, but even among some pro-lifers. The explanation is not hard to figure out.

Sen. Obama, and his cohorts in the "mainstream media," are not about to tell the truth about his down-the-line abortion advocacy, correctly believing this would hurt him. Interesting these same reporters, for the most part, are eager to tell us that Sen. McCain is pro-life, incorrectly believing that will hurt him.

So all this week, in addition to writing a separate commentary on other topics, we'll go through, one by one, all the pertinent facts we ought to know about Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama. Heeding my wife's advice, I shall try to make each day's remarks comparatively brief, self-contained, and very easy to read/understand/comprehend.

By way of introduction, let me start with a subject that is "soft" and another that is hard data-driven.

Many of you no doubt have seen the hilarious television ad--hilarious because it is both accurate and so indicative of Obama's humongous self-image--that shows Obama as the "One." All it does is put together just a few of the many incredibly vain, self-referential comments that Sen. Obama has made over the last year that very much suggest he sees himself as operating on a different plane than mere mortals.

The twist was adding a clip from the famous scene from "The Ten Commandments" where Charleton Heston, playing Moses, parts the Red Sea. As the waters roll back, the viewer sees Obama's (since retired) presidential seal coming front and center. The much ridiculed seal included the words vero possumus (something along the lines of, "yes we can") which Obama hastily put into moth balls after only three days.

What's important is not just that the ad captured the essence of Obama's preening self-confidence, but how crazy it made his minions in the press. A light touch, playfully mocking Obama's enormous store of self-importance, was described in terms that can only be described as hysterical, on the one hand, and unintentionally funny on the other hand.

They will not tolerate criticism of Obama. Period. The good news is that none of us, including me, will self-censor just so Obama can cruise unopposed to the presidency.

The data-driven news is that the presidential contest is now dead-even. Through Sunday Gallup's daily tracking poll has Obama up one point (45% to 44%). Rasmussen's poll has McCain up one point (47% to 46%).

Far more important than the daily ups and downs is the dramatic change among the "unaffiliateds." A week ago Rasmussen found that "Obama had a three-percentage point lead and the candidates were even among unaffiliated voters. Today, McCain leads 52% to 37% among unaffiliateds."

Please be sure to read TN&V all this week. In addition, please forward each edition to your family, friends, and colleagues and invite them to subscribe at http://nrlc.org/join_our_mailing_list.htm.

It's going to be a fun week. Please read Part Two, "Not Compassion But Despair."