Closing the “enthusiasm gap” is John McCain’s major hurdle in the next several months according to Republican leaders and political strategists I talked to last week. Barack Obama’s supporters are more fired-up, confident, and interested. CBS News polling director Kathleen Frackovic wrote a piece last week that makes some comparisons about the “gap” in the 2004 presidential race. She notes that John Kerry had a similar enthusiasm problem, a deficit that lingered throughout the race: