Keep this in mind...

Obama’s approval rating is now 50 percent, according to the most recent week of Gallup tracking. At this point in 1980, Gallup pegged Carter’s approval at 37 percent.

I don’t mean any disrespect to Romney, but I think he’s run a poor campaign. You can’t say anything within this close a margin is over. I don’t do that. But he’s got a lot more to do at this point to win than Reagan had to do.

What it all comes down to:

“You have to look at it like a French impressionist painting,” said Reagan biographer Craig Shirley, an adviser to conservative causes. “If you stand way back, you say, ‘There are maybe some similarities between 1980 and 2012.’ But the closer you get to the painting the more it separates.”

• Pete Souza for the White House (The Official White House Photostream)