They're afraid of something.

Observing the US election at close hand, it is noticeable that the tightening polls have got the democrats worried about whether Obama canclose the deal.

Far from the sort of humble confidence typically affected by politicians this close to an election, the democrats speaking on many of the news programs are expressing their concern that there will be a bailey effect. One has to wonder whether they are getting their excuses in early.

(For those unfamiliar with the term, the Bailey effect (named after a California Democrat) is where a black candidate performs worse in the election than in the polls. Depending on your way of looking at things, this could be either because everyone is racist and tell the pollsters they will vote for the candidate they agree with, while having no intention of voting for someone who isn't white, or it could be because they don't like the candidate but are afraid to tell pollsters that they will vote for someone else lest it spark accusations of racism.)