Iraq is McCain's weakest issue and Obama's strongest. Both are pretty consistent on that issue. However, unlike Obama, McCain is consistently wrong.
Democrats have a large general political advantage in '08, but McCain evens the playing field to a large degree for the presidency. He will be able to trump Democrats on issues like global warming mitigation and torture. The power of fear may be his biggest asset, though, as it generally is for Republicans.
Clinton vs Obama - polls show Obama matching up better against McCain but this is largely because he hasn't felt the full force of the Republican smear machine. He's only take a few jabs here and there. Clinton has already had the mud slung at her for many years and is a proven survivor. Additional smears probably won't have much effect. More intense lies about Obama are on the way, this one brought to you by the makers of "Hillary, the Movie".
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2...lm-on-the-way/