The complete lack of movement in the national polls is good news for Sen. John McCain and bad news for Sen. Barack Obama, even as the Democrat continues to hold a modest lead.

First, a word of caution: National polls are generally given undue attention in the press. There is no national election, but rather 51 state elections. On that score, our Electoral College count shows a razor-thin Obama lead (273 to 265).

The usefulness in national polls is in getting rough ideas of a candidate's popularity, and more importantly as a judge of momentum. It is on this latter score that Obama needs to worry. On June 4, Rasmussen Reports released its first daily tracking poll of the general election (3,000 likely voters over three nights, with a margin of error of +/-2%), and it showed Obama 47%, McCain 45%. Fifty-seven days later, the Wednesday, July 30 poll showed Obama at 48% to McCain's 46% - virtually no movement. In the interim, neither candidate has shown movement outside the margin of error.

Barack Obama's barnstorming foreign trip did little to change the shape of his accelerating race for president with Republican John McCain, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

Obama led McCain 51 percent to 44 percent in the CNN/Opinion Research survey, the first national poll conducted entirely after his international campaign foray last week. He edged McCain 50 percent to 45 percent a month ago.

The survey also suggested that veteran Senator McCain still boasted an advantage when voters were asked which candidate they trusted most to deal with national security issues.

Some 56 percent of voters said McCain was best placed to handle terrorism, compared to 41 percent for first-term Senator Obama, who has improved his rating on the issue by just four percentage points since late April.