First, the Michigan poll:

Monday, April 14, 2008
Michigan poll: McCain, Obama in close race
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Democrat Barack Obama holds a small lead over John McCain in the race for Michigan's 17 electoral votes, but McCain holds a significant lead over Hillary Clinton in a new poll released Monday.

Obama, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, leads McCain 43 percent to 41 percent, according to the survey by Lansing polling firm EPIC-MRA. Obama's lead is well within the poll's error margin of 4 percentage points, however. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, holds a 46-37 edge over Clinton...

That's:
Obama 43, McCain 41    +2 margin.
Hillary 37, McCain 46    -9 margin.

Now let's review here.  Hillary was the only name, of the two remaining candidates, to be listed on the January Michigan ballot, which was decertified by the Democratic National Committee.  But she is losing to McCain in Michigan, and the candidate who wasn't on the ballot is beating McCain, although by only 2 points.

This sounds pretty bad.  Hear the rest of the Detroit News article:

But in a sign that Democrats still hold an edge in Michigan, when poll participants were first asked if they would vote for a Democrat or a Republican for president, without being read the names of any candidates, 43 percent said they were likely to vote for the Democratic nominee, while just 31 percent said they would probably vote for a Republican. McCain is seeking to be the first GOP presidential candidate to carry Michigan since the elder President Bush in 1988.

McCain also gets more favorable reviews from voters than either of his possible Democratic opponents. Fifty-nine percent said they had a favorable opinion of McCain, compared to 55 percent for Obama and 45 percent for Clinton.

There are also signs of an unsettled electorate. Clinton won Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, but was the only major candidate on the ballot. Now, 42 percent of Michiganians in the survey said they would prefer that Obama win the Democratic nomination, to 37 percent for Clinton; 21 percent are undecided. And 51 percent of those surveyed said they were at least somewhat likely to change their mind on a presidential candidate between now and November.

Obama voluntarily took his name off the Jan. 15 ballot because Michigan violated national party rules in scheduling an early primary.  

So voters in Michigan apparently want to vote for a Democrat.  They are just torn when they are told to choose between Obama or Hillary.  Hillary loses Michigan, the first Democrat to do so since Dukakis in 1988.  Neither of them are performing as well as an "unnamed" Dem vs. Rep candidate would do.  It seems to me that the prolonged and ugly nature of the primary season has something to do with that.

In good news, in another poll, we see a red state, North Carolina, trending away from Republicans.

Rasmussen poll:

Barack Obama has caught up with John McCain in the Tar Heel State. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that both Obama and McCain attract 47% of the North Carolina vote in an early look at the race. Three percent (3%) say they would prefer a third-party option and 3% are undecided.

A month ago, McCain led Obama by nine percentage points. The current survey was completed before Obama's remarks about small-town voters made headlines.

McCain leads Hillary Clinton 51% to 40%. In that match-up, 6% say they would vote for a third party option while 3% are undecided. McCain held a sixteen point advantage over Clinton in March. ...

That's:

Obama 47, McCain 47   margin zero.
Hillary 40, McCain 51    margin -11.

The poll was taken before the "bitterness" flap.  It's interesting, though, that we could see a formerly hard-red state like North Carolina, up for grabs, even this early in the season.  It says that the general election this year may hold more surprises for the Republicans than the conventional wisdom would have it.

My overall conclusion: We need to end this nomination process as soon as we can do it fairly.  Hillary may be inflicting damage on Obama for the general election, but it is hurting Hillary in the general even more.  The strategy of throwing the kitchen sink at Obama and trying to "reveal" him as unelectable (thus prompting a superdelegate coup) is making HER less electable, as the trend in the EV map on the front page keeps showing.

All these maps and polls are just a snapshot in time, but the whole premise of Hillary's continued vigorous campaign is that, regardless of the elected, pledged delegates that Obama may have at the end of this, Hillary should get the nomination because she is "more electable."  The results suggest the opposite.  They are both losing their general election edge over McCain, but she is becoming unelectable faster than he is, at this point in time.