John McCain has now moved ahead in New Mexico, more evidence of an across the board shift towards McCain-Palin that has panicked the Dems and sent Obama-Biden into a spin cycle that sees gaffe follow gaffe.  Now the Dalibama has had to spend two days first attacking Palin and then defending his slam at Sarah Palin as a pig by denying that's what he meant, though everyone in his audience and across the country instantly knew that is exactly what he meant.  His refusal to own his blunder is not going to help him in the last with the independents and Hillary Dems he had already angered via his campaign's abetting of the first wave of attacks on Palin.

Jennifer Rubin analyzes this trend, but the real story isn't a trend, it is the panic among the Dems.  The shallowness of their nominee, the thinness of his resume and the dodges he is obliged to make again and again about his friends and associates has embedded a new image of Obama deep in the public's perception, and it isn't a flattering one. 

UPDATE:  Politico notices the panic in Democratic circles.