Karl Rove’s got an interesting piece [1] up in the WSJ today that focuses on what he believes are going to be the four battleground states that will determine who becomes our next president: Colorado, Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio. It’s good reading for Electoral College junkies who are paying more attention to state [2] polls [3] than national polls. In the piece, he also talks about what both McCain and Obama will need to do in those states in order to have a good shot at winning them.
I say Viriginia and Ohio will go to McCain (in spite of the possiblity [4] that Obama will pick Va. Gov. Tim Kaine to be his VP running mate), and Michigan will go to Obama, but Colorado is a toss-up. Having the Dem convention in Denver certainly won’t hurt things for him there.
In related news, the AP reports [5] that Obama has spent $2 million in ads here in NC in hopes it will break the 3 decades+ drought that Democrat presidential nominees have had in this state. The demographics of the state are rapidly changing [6], so it’s hard to predict what will happen in NC come November, especially since the polls at this stage give only a slight edge to McCain [7].