On the eve of the Republican convention, a new national poll suggests the race for the White House remains even.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night shows the Obama-Biden ticket leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 percent to 48 percent, with the statistical margin of error.

The survey was conducted Friday through Sunday, after both the conclusion of the Democratic convention and Sen. John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A previous CNN poll, taken just one week earlier, suggested the race between McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, was tied at 47 percent each.

“The convention and particularly Obama’s speech seems to be well-received. And the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP running mate, also seems to be well-received. So why is the race still a virtual tie? Probably because the two events created equal and opposite bounces assuming that either one created a bounce at all,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

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Make me to know thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long.

–Psalm 24:4,5

On this weekend, when we rest from our usual labors, loving Father, we pray for all who shoulder the tasks of human labor””in the marketplace, in factories and offices, in the professions, and in family living. We thank you, Lord, for the gift and opportunity of work; may our efforts always be pure of heart, for the good of others and the glory of your name. We lift up to you all who long for just employment and those who work to defend the rights and needs of workers everywhere. May those of us who are now retired always remember that we still make a valuable contribution to our Church and our world by our prayers and deeds of charity. May our working and our resting all give praise to you until the day we share together in eternal rest with all our departed in your Kingdom as you live and reign Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

—The Archdiocese of Detroit.

In the final installment of the Race & Politics series, listeners talk with Liane Hansen about how race affects their political positions. Early in the series listener Greg Harden, of Rochester, N.Y., said that he felt race relations would not improve. His comments motivated another listener, Leon Wynter, of New York City, to reach out to him and start an online discussion. The two remain hopeful that Barack Obama will help usher in a new era in race relations.

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As forecasters warned Hurricane Gustav could hit Louisiana on Monday with devastating effect, officials pleaded with Gulf Coast residents to flee and Republicans said they’d abbreviate the opening day of their national convention.

As of 5 p.m. ET, the eye of the Category 3 storm was about 215 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said.

Hurricane-force winds could hit Louisiana’s southern coast by sunrise Monday, and the storm’s center could hit southwest of New Orleans by early Monday afternoon, CNN meteorologists said.

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But I am a bit worried that…[Obama’s] knowledge of economics may not be as extensive as his legal background. In particular, he’s been campaigning with an idea of a second round of economic stimulus to combat the evident slowdown in the economy, to follow President Bush’s first round that is now wrapping up. The first round hasn’t succeeded, and Senator Obama’s ideas aren’t very promising, either.

In that first round, the government has basically borrowed $80 billion to $100 billion and used it to send out checks to most American taxpayers. The hope was that the extra money in taxpayers’ pockets would stimulate consumption.

As Martin Feldstein, the Harvard economist, has said recently, that hope was largely misplaced. The overwhelming bulk of the money borrowed and distributed went to pay down debts and into saving. Only 10 to 20 percent of the money the Treasury borrowed went to bolster consumer spending, Professor Feldstein said.

Of course, the final word on this stimulus package isn’t in. Some economists say that the package has helped avoid deeper short-term problems, and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. says we need more time to assess the true impact of the rebate checks. (And the stronger-than-expected G.D.P. numbers for the second quarter may be attributed mostly to the export boom from the weak dollar, which turns out to be powerful medicine indeed.)

The rebate matter, however, leads us to a major issue: Do we really want to increase federal indebtedness to stimulate consumption, anyway?

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CLEARLY, there are major differences between the economic policies of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Mr. McCain wants more tax cuts for the rich; Mr. Obama wants tax cuts for the poor and middle class. The two men also disagree on health care, energy and many other topics.

Such differences are hardly surprising. Democrats and Republicans have followed different approaches to the economy for as long as there have been Democrats and Republicans. Longer, actually. Remember Hamilton versus Jefferson?

Many Americans know that there are characteristic policy differences between the two parties. But few are aware of two important facts about the post-World War II era, both of which are brilliantly delineated in a new book, “Unequal Democracy,” by Larry M. Bartels, a professor of political science at Princeton. Understanding them might help voters see what could be at stake, economically speaking, in November.

I call the first fact the Great Partisan Growth Divide. Simply put, the United States economy has grown faster, on average, under Democratic presidents than under Republicans.

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The dead city is slowly awakening, but there is still an element of dread in the air. The grand return from the summer holidays ”” la rentrée ”” is preoccupying France, but anxiety abounds about what exactly is being re-entered.

La rentrée is a new beginning, as if the new school year provides new chances for everyone here to reform, renew, replenish and re-engage. People make resolutions, as at New Year’s, to be thinner, faster, smarter, better.

But this year, the public mood remains sour, with optimism hard to find and open worries about inflation, purchasing power and the position of France in what seems a suddenly less stable world.

The French are like “eternal children who return to school,” said Alix Girod de l’Ain, a columnist at Elle magazine. “There is a sacralization of vacation,” since nearly everyone takes August off, with la rentrée as “an important moment because we officially change our rhythm and enter a new cycle.”

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