Ken Silverstein interviewed a Republican consultant, John Brabender, to tease out lines of attack that might be used against Obama in the general election, if he's the nominee. Brabender's comments drove home for me that a Dem victory in 08 is far from guaranteed:

If you want to reduce political campaigns to marketing, Obama is a great new product with great packaging and people are anxious to try it, but they don’t yet know whether it’s a product they want to use over and over again. People know McCain. He is Coca-Cola. You might not always want a Coke, but you always know what it’s going to taste like and that it’s good when you’re thirsty. These are turbulent times and the safe pick might be the best pick. ...

6. What about the age factor? Does that hurt McCain?

Some people say McCain’s age will be a negative, but it might be one of his biggest assets. When they are side by side, Obama is going to look very young, maybe too young to be president. He’ll look like a kind young man and McCain will look like an elder statesman: That visual works to McCain’s advantage. The less sure Americans feel about their security, the more people will feel better about McCain. Obama has many appealing features, and in many ways, he’s what’s right about America. He shows that anyone can rise up if they’re smart enough and talented enough, but the question is whether he has the experience to lead the country in turbulent times. That’s a huge question mark. McCain is a PC and Obama is Mac. People like the look of Macs but there are a lot more PCs out there. McCain is an extremely safe choice for America and people may decide they can’t afford to do anything but make the safe choice.

So what we have here, to use an overused phrase, are the politics of fear. What's scary is that they might work.