Palin will stay on the ticket, even though more embarrassing revelations will come up-McCain won't admit he could have done better. She will get more credit that she deserves for 'holding her own' in the debates simply because expectations were so low in the first place. McCain will get the benefit of the doubt as well in the debates.

Obama will win…barely. The polls will look like he will take it easily, but the Bradley Effect will take hold and it will be a nailbiter in some states.

Also, McCain will win Texas, but it will be much closer than anyone expects.

The october surprise happened last week when McCain picked Palin. His base is now fired up and excited for the first time in his campaign.

I still believe Barack will win (barely) though.

Oh I forgot to add: two potential October surprises-1. Another terrorist attack, but (hopefully) not on the scale of Sept. 11th. and 2. They find and/or kill Bin Laden.

Charles, dead on with your first post. Not so much the third. Or perhaps I am trying to kill my own conspiracy theorist voices that tell me the same thing. Can you imagine "Senator Obama, I would have followed Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but now, thanks to my superior military prowess and international experience, I don't have to!"

But seriously, I think that Palin will now and forever be the hero of the RNC. And unless she says something INCREDIBLY stupid. And I mean, like confusing Iraq with France, or saying how pro-life she is during a debate, then she is going to be their darling. But I don't know if the rest of America is going to roll over and play dead for the evangelicals any longer.

I think the October surprise will be the Tony Rezko scandal. The Republicans will no doubt try to make that into a Rev Wright firestorm and leave hardly any time to recover from it.

Palin will slip up in the style of Jesse Jackson, forgetting that there are eyes and ears everywhere. A hidden mic or camera will catch her saying something extremely offensive, most likely about Obama.

Wait until the debates begin. Obama will win in a walk if he goes after McCain on the issues like he should. McCain's got nothing but the war. Nothing.