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Stephanopoulos: Electoral Battleground Leans Obama

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October 06, 2008 7:02 PM

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a clear lead in every state Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., won in 2004, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,  New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Republicans and Democrats would both say Obama is likely to win Iowa and New Mexico -- states won by President George W. Bush in 2004 -- bringing Obama's total electoral votes to about 264 of the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the White House.

That leaves eight states as competitive toss-up states, including Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, and Virginia.

In every one of those states, polls show Obama is either ahead or within the margin of error.

Obama just needs to take one of those states on election day to win.

Boding well for him, Obama is now leading Republican presidential candidate John McCain in Ohio 51 -45 percent among likely voters, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Ohio has 20 electoral votes up for grabs.

The poll is bad news for McCain: no Republican presidential candidate has won the White House without winning the Buckeye State.

The nation's financial crisis and the economic downturn is boosting Obama's chances in Ohio and nationally.

Ohio voters trust Obama over McCain 52-39 to handles the economy, and by similar margins to create jobs and handles taxes.

Obama is seen as having a better understanding of the economic problems facing Ohio voters than McCain 53 - 35 percent.

While Obama struggled to win the support of blue-collar workers that supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY., during the primary, he now holds a 10-percentage point lead over McCain among working-class whites in Ohio.

However it's not a done deal yet. Undecided voters make up about 18 percent of likely voters in Ohio, a figure that hews closely to national polls.

McCain's campaign is growing increasingly negative, launching personal attacks against Obama in an attempt to erode some of his support with the election only 29 days away.

But McCain can't win a state by state war of attrition. He has to fundamentally change the nature of the race, put the focus on Obama, and get people asking questions about his Democratic rival.

The Arizona senator has only two debates left to change the minds of voters.

We can expect to see McCain try to go on the attack during tomorrow night's town hall-style debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

However it's tough to go too negative in a town hall format because the questioners can backlash if the candidates are not talking about the issues that they ask about, which are generally about issues that matter more in their lives. 

October 6, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (376)

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You can judge a man's character by the company he keeps...

Posted by: socalrepub | Oct 6, 2008 7:21:58 PM

McCain is counting on personal attacks to bring him back into competition in this race. He will attack Obama in any and every way Rick Davis tells him to. Honestly, I don't even think McCain is in charge anymore - his staff is running the show, and it's becoming increasingly erratic, mean-spirited, and desperate. They will probably make some headway - but if the American public goes for swiftboat attacks again, we deserve all the ineptness, anti-intellectualism, and economic cluelessness that a McCain/Palin administration will bring.

Posted by: jon in maryland | Oct 6, 2008 7:22:29 PM

Just go ahead and put Obama in the White House right now, since everyone is so enthralled by him and so assured that he is the man who will miraculously SPEAK, and everyone will listen and heed his advice. Gosh, this man has this country forgetting the sound advice their parents gave them as children: If it seems too good to be true, it is!

Posted by: Byron Sweatt | Oct 6, 2008 7:23:43 PM

As a Canadian watching todays political events unfold,I am astounded that the media has not condemned McCain for his antics. Is it not over the line when McCain incites such anger...he stood by quietly as his supporters yelled out 'terrorist' in reference to Obama in the midst of his speech!! Or when Palins introducer invoked Obama's middle name to invoke the same sentiment. There is a time when the media should be condeming an opponents rhetoric and inciting such horrible sentiments from its supporters. Quite frankly, its downright frightening. In the name of decency, the media needs to put an end to this type of rhetoric and inciting of hatred!! The world is watching and watching in total dismay today!!

Posted by: Dee | Oct 6, 2008 7:24:52 PM

I 've got a good advice for the Mccain camp.
The more negative their attacks get, the more desperate they look. Those undecideds will shift to Obama in droves and he will win in a landslide of historical proportions.
The condition of the economy at this time makes negative attacks flimsy and annoying.
Those ayers and Rev wright stories didn't work for hillary when they were still new. Now, they are older than Mccain himself and moreover, the economy is in shambles. It is stupid to think they will work this this time.

Posted by: Commonsense | Oct 6, 2008 7:30:31 PM

Does anyone know where Gov. Sarah Palin stand on immigration??? What to do with the 12 millions illegal immigrants living in the country and their US born children.

Regards!
Josh.

Posted by: Josh Anderson | Oct 6, 2008 7:31:16 PM

John was in the Navy, surely he recognizes when his ship is sinking.

Posted by: hmn | Oct 6, 2008 7:32:04 PM

Hahaha McCains's/Failin 08!! Well, well, well,..it looks like Palins dirty tricks arent working. See people arent as dumb as the repubs think they are. Respectable campaign indeed. Ayers and Wright are old news and they have already been run into the ground, and proven to be red herrings. Nobody cares about that. Caribou barbie needs to go back to her igloo.

Posted by: Fairfax | Oct 6, 2008 7:33:50 PM

I think Hussein Obama is running 2 campains , the Obamabots campain and the McCain campain.

Posted by: Jambres | Oct 6, 2008 7:38:31 PM

Uhhh Jambres, Get used to saying President Barack H. Obama.

Posted by: Jo | Oct 6, 2008 7:40:37 PM

In response to Byron's invocation of the old saying, "if it seems too good to be true, it is!" - might I add one I find particularly relevant to the McSame campaign: "If it feels like a turd, and smells like a turd, it's a turd."

Posted by: balthus | Oct 6, 2008 7:42:02 PM

"Sen. Obama has accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis. I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed."

So what is the "attack hag" doing then?

Posted by: Jeff | Oct 6, 2008 7:43:12 PM

My friend voted early in Ohio today. He has been really pessimistic about Obama chances until now. He said if you could see the excitement and momentum for Obama exhibited at the Polls in Ohio, you would be assured that Obama won't just win...he'll win in a landslide. Keep doing what your doing McCain, pretty soon Wyoming is going to be a battleground state.

Posted by: nina | Oct 6, 2008 7:44:20 PM

Our character is reflected in our choice of friends and business associates..Speaking as a social liberal who speaks against offensive violence and economic conservative, I could never vote for a person who even remotely had ties with a racist in disguise of a man of a peaceful God or a individual who wanted to commit mass murder on any of our government installations or any installations..That would no longer make me a social liberal...

Posted by: socalrepub | Oct 6, 2008 7:46:25 PM

Is this America with a "K" or a C"?

Obama is what he is. He has already chosen who his frinds are.

Can we really trust him?

Vote for an American hero, McCain who was brutally tortured in Hanoi!

http://www. obamaunveiled. com

Posted by: Hussein | Oct 6, 2008 7:46:25 PM

So, as the stock market continues to decline, Obama numbers in the polls go up.

A preview of the impact of the Obama economic plan and his vote in favor of the bailout.

Posted by: Obama-Economic Disaster | Oct 6, 2008 7:47:39 PM

What is Obama doing in Washington right now? My tax dollars have been paying his salary for the last 2 years and now he comes up with a plan, Looks like he just took the pay, for self gratification only, because he sure has no record to brag since he's been there, he has no record of helping the people of Ill. much less America!! And one more thing, why does America have to listen to George Stephanopoulos's Democratic opinions!! Is nobody at ABC News listen to the one sided ipinions?!

Posted by: Lisa Harden | Oct 6, 2008 7:53:09 PM

Vote for John McCain!!

John McCain is the one who can come up with solutions to our economic problems.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are mathematically challenged.

Joe Biden with his history and political science double major in college and Barack Obama’s major in political science give them absoloutely no economic, scientific, quantitative or analytical background to handle the pressing economic and military problems facing our country.

These two mathematically challenged Democrats are supposed to be able to crunch numbers and understand how to cope with our economic and budget crisis.

Two people who probably can’t add four numbers together are suppose help solve our economic crisis.

Do you know that they offer basic accounting continuing education classes to lawyers because most lawyers do not understand simple accounting. We have had enough mathematically challenged lawyers screw up our country.

You at least know that John McCain has the computational and analytic skills to compute fuel loads, cargo weights, wind speeds, and trip distances to keep from running out of gas on missions.

How would you like it, if Joe Biden or Barack Obama would fly your Boeing 777 on your next commercial flight here in the US.

Most independent and undecided voters would not rest easy knowing that Biden or Obama can rely on what they learned in their civil procedure class to help you land safely and not run out of jet fuel during the trip. Pilots have proven analytical skills. There is a saying that there are old and bold pilots but no old bold pilots.

John McCain has that good judgment and he has the proven analytical skills to be able to tackle our budget problems. Barack Obama and Joe Biden can spend the next four years and take some accounting and economics continuing legal education classes. After four years of academic coursework, then they might be able to throw their hat in the ring.

Given their academic training, a trillion dollars may look the same as a million dollars on a budget spreadsheet.

Posted by: bhcg89 | Oct 6, 2008 7:53:41 PM

You can judge a man's character by his actions when he is down.

Posted by: The Unshrub | Oct 6, 2008 7:54:10 PM

All the howling and whining from the Obama regime about "negative attacks" coming from the McCain campaign is quite amusing.

The Obama crowd has been working overtime on negative attacks against Sarah Palin, but when the same treatment comes their way the Obama crowd cries "foul."

But such is not unexpected. During the primary, anyone who dared to point out the fallacies or missteps of Lord and Master Obama was immediately labeled as racist, hate-mongerers, or fear-mongerers, just to name a few.

To their credit, the serfs and peasants of Lord Obama are quite loyal to their master and work hard to protect him.

Posted by: Obama-Economic Disaster | Oct 6, 2008 7:54:26 PM

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