Despite polls showing the Presidential race remarkably close, the American people strongly suspect that President Obama is going to win re-election. 56 percent think Obama will win this November, while just 36 percent think Mitt Romney will win, according to Gallup.

While there are both pluses and some minuses to being seen as the clear front runner, on net it is a positive. After all people want to bank a winner. People are also much less likely to donate money or volunteer for a candidate if they appear to be a lost cause.

It seems the Obama campaign shares this opinion about the benefits of being seen as the favorite and is desperate to maintain this image. It explains why they would make the rather pathetic move of attacking the methodology of the recent CBS News/NYT poll that shows Romney with a small three point lead.