THE STUBBORN RESISTANCE TO THE UNICORN RIDER:

Obama has 4-point lead on McCain in U.S. race (John Whitesides, 10/15/08, Reuters)

Democrat Barack Obama has a 4-point national lead over Republican John McCain as the White House rivals head into their final debate, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Obama leads McCain 48 percent to 44 percent among likely U.S. voters in the latest four-day tracking poll, down slightly from Obama's 6-point advantage on Tuesday. The poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.