U.S. presidential race in Olympics lull

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. presidential race has entered an Olympics lull after neither of the major candidates was able to pull away in its first two months, analysts say.

Since the end of the primary election season, neither likely Democratic nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., nor his probable opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been able to quell the same doubts or build on the same strengths they were perceived as having months ago, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

With their poll numbers fluctuating and the race heading into a two-week Olympics slowdown -- the Summer Games are in Beijing -- voters seemed disengaged from a race that has featured memorable images but also attack ads and sharp disagreements about the Iraq war.

"The race has been pretty stagnant," Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, told the Post. "Obama had as good a trip overseas as you could possibly have, and nothing moved."

Democratic strategists, however, say McCain has done less than Obama to address his negatives.

"John McCain at this point is identified with four more years of George Bush," Democratic pollster Mark Mellman said. "That's exactly the way Obama wanted to paint him, and it is the way people see him."