In his New York Times column, Bill Kristol takes a look at McCain’s chances:
What if the polls, for various reasons, are overstating Obama’s support by a couple points? And what if the late deciders break overwhelmingly against Obama, as they did in the Democratic primaries? McCain could then thread the Electoral College needle. McCain would have to win every state where he now leads or is effectively even in the polls (including North Carolina, Indiana and Missouri). He’d have to take Florida and Ohio, where he’s about four points down but where operatives on the ground give him a pretty good shot. That gets him to 247 of the 270 votes needed. McCain’s path to victory is then to snatch Pennsylvania (which gets him to 268), and win either Virginia, Colorado, Nevada or New Mexico (states where he trails by about four to seven points) – or New Hampshire, where he’s 10 points behind but twice won dramatic primary victories. As for Pennsylvania, two recent polls have McCain closing to within four points. Pennsylvania is the state whose small-town residents were famously patronized by Obama as “bitter.” One of Pennsylvania’s Democratic congressmen, John Murtha, recently accused many of his western Pennsylvania constituents of being racist. Perhaps Pennsylvanians will want to send a little message to the Democratic Party. And that could tip the election to McCain. It’s an inside straight. But I’ve seen gamblers draw them.
Ed Morrissey notes that the last batch of battleground polls from Rasmussen now shows the race essentially tied in Ohio and Florida as well as North Carolina and Missouri, while McCain trails Obama by four points in Colorado and Virginia:
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