A couple of months back Sen. John McCain was touring the Middle East. At an impromptu press briefing, McCain misspoke and mixed up Sunni and Shia. The media talking heads on the various cable talk shows leapt on the mistake and the media template of "John McCain is old and senile" took air.

Don't expect similar discussion on this Barack Obama goof.

Obama no doubt knows how many states there are. He is not having a senior moment. He may be tired. He simply misspoke.

But the media will cut him some slack here -- something they wouldn't do for McCain.

The mainstream media is worth at least 5 points for the Dems in the general election for the combined weight of editorial decisions just like this.