Tipping point

This just in from Mike Allen's Politico Playbook Daily Update:

SIREN -- THE NARRATIVE IS ON FIRE – NBC NEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR CHUCK TODD SOUNDS THE ALARM ON MSNBC'S 'MORNING JOE': 'All the trend lines are pointing in Obama's direction .... [Pointing to a series of battleground-state polls] This should really scare the McCain campaign. This thing -- it's at a tipping point. And this debate, frankly, is coming at GOOD time for McCain because he needs something – anything – to stop this Obama momentum. ... The pressure is all on Sarah Palin, not just for her own persona, but to SAVE THE McCAIN CAMPAIGN. ... I think Virginia, frankly, is a trailing indicator of the national numbers. ... John McCain is campaigning in Missouri later this week. That's not a good sign. You shouldn't have to be worrying about Missouri at this point.'

CNN MAP CHANGES – MISSOURI AND MINNESOTA TREND OBAMA -- Flipped Missouri from light red to tossup. And flipped Minnesota from tossup to light blue. Latest CNN electoral vote estimate: Obama 250, McCain 189.

'Poll Finds Obama Gaining Support and McCain Weakened in Bailout Crisis,' by Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee: 'Senator Barack Obama is showing signs of gaining significant support among voters with less than five weeks left until Election Day, while Senator John McCain's image has been damaged by his response to the financial crisis. A CBS News poll released Wednesday found that Mr. Obama's favorability rating, at 48 percent, is the highest it has ever been in polls conducted by CBS and The New York Times. At the same time, the number of voters who hold an unfavorable view of Mr. McCain - 42 percent - is as high as it has been since CBS News and The Times began asking the question about Mr. McCain in 1999, the first time he ran for president.

'The CBS News poll showed that Mr. Obama had a nine-percentage-point lead over Mr. McCain - 49 percent to 40 percent. It is the first time Mr. Obama has held a statistically significant lead over Mr. McCain this year in polls conducted by CBS or joint polls by CBS and The Times. And a series of polls taken in highly contested states released by other organizations on Tuesday suggested that Mr. Obama was building leads in states including Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia.'

BUT BUT BUT (Halperin homage) -- McCain political director MIKE DuHAIME tells MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell: 'The polls are very much in flux. This race is going to be very, very close, down to the wire -- not only nationally, but in a lot of key states. So I feel very good about where we are right now. No doubt that the polls are going to be in flux. But in terms of looking forward, I feel very confident.'