"I think this is a close election," Axelrod said. "There's not a whole lot of play so you're not going to see wild swings in this election."

Axelrod and campaign manager David Plouffe, who joined a group of reporters at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor in downtown Denver just hours before Obama was set to give what is being called the biggest speech of his political career, said that while they don't expect a big bounce from the convention, the campaign has thus far achieved the goals it had for the Democrats' meeting.

The two advisers said they have seen polling numbers in recent days that show Democrats, who for whatever reason had been reluctant to back Obama, are coming home following three days of speeches aimed at introducing Obama, drawing contrast with Republican rival Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and healing party disunity following the long and heated nomination battle.

"We could not be more thrilled about how they've gone," Plouffe said of the first three nights. "I think coming out of here we're not just unified but our party is electrified."

The two men acknowledged that the race continues to be close, and they said they expect it to stay that way until Election Day. Many Democrats have expressed worry about the closeness of the race given the toxic political environment Republicans face.

"We had no illusions that this was going to be anything but close," Axelrod said, noting that in modern American politics, "there's no such thing as a landslide."

Axelrod and Plouffe also dismissed the criticisms of some Democratic strategists who have complained that not enough of the convention program has been devoted to attacking McCain. Axelrod said the goal was to not just draw contrast with McCain but also to introduce the Obamas to voters not yet familiar with them.

"I certainly don't think we've followed the path of 2004 when there was a prohibition on any mention of President Bush," Axelrod said.