Blake's Think Tank

There was some movement this week in the polls for both John McCain and Barack Obama. The problems with Wall Street seemed to move people closer to Obama allowing him to shore up support in a few key states.

• Obama’s increasing lead in New Mexico, Iowa and Colorado, three states that voted for George W. Bush in 2004, propels him over the top this week.
• The race is very close two blue states that Obama must win: Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. However, Obama appears to be soldifying his support in Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire.
• The race is also very close in three red states that McCain must win: Florida, Indiana and Virginia. McCain has not been able to get beyond a 1-3 point advantage in these states. McCain does appear to be pulling away in Missouri and Ohio.
• If today was election day which states would we be watching closely: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia.

States solidly for Obama: CA, CT, DE, DC, HI, IA, IL, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA (197 electoral votes).

New editions: Iowa

States solidly for McCain: AK, AL, AZ, AR, GA, ID, KS, KY, LA, MS, MT, ND, NE, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV, WY (163 electoral votes)

New editions: North Dakota

States looking very good for Obama: CO (9 electoral votes)

States looking very good for McCain: MO (11 electoral votes)

Total electoral votes for Obama: 206

Total electoral votes for McCain: 174

Toss-ups: FL, IN, OH, MI, MN, NC, NH, NM, NV, VA, WI, PA (158 electoral votes)

New editions to toss-ups: PA

According to the latest polls Obama leads in: MI (+9), NH (+6), NM (+8), MN (+8), WI (+1), PA (+2) (67 electoral votes)

Obama’s total: 273

According to the latest polls McCain leads in: FL (+1), IN (+2), OH (+6), NC (+3), NV (+1), VA (+2)

McCain’s total: 265