In talking to people about the election, many people believe that it willy likely boil down to little more than one issue. Some think it will be Iraq. Others believe it will be the economy. Still others think it will be race, gender (if Obama or McCain picks a female VP), age or the omnipresent geography ("Chicago" versus "the west").
I agree with these people about the nature of the election. I truly don't think it will be a broad issues-based election. In fact, I think high-profile elections are rarely that way. (Putin in Russia, Merkel in Germany, Yushchenko and Timoshenko in the Ukraine and Tusk in Poland are all obvious examples of one issue/idea being the deciding factor.)
I'd like to tell you what I think this election is all about: