New surveys in battleground states – including longtime GOP safe havens such as North Carolina – show Barack Obama either ahead of rival John McCain or keeping several places in toss-up status.
Of the traditional battlegrounds, Obama has been running ahead of McCain in most polls in Ohio, a state President Bush won in 2004.
The Real Clear Politics average of Ohio polls from Oct. 22 through Oct. 31 showed Obama ahead, 48.8 percent to 44.6 percent.
And in Florida, another Bush state in 2004, a recent ARG survey showed Obama ahead four points, 50 percent to 46 percent.
Obama’s inroads in Republican strongholds has prompted McCain to spend days at a stretch in the past week stumping in Pennsylvania, a blue state in 2004 but one that he thinks he can wrest away from the Democrats.
But the RCP average in Pennsylvania showed Obama ahead, 51.2 to 44.2, in the past week.
And the fact that Obama hasn’t taken time from his tour of red states – and given native son Joe Biden’s Scranton roots – suggests he doesn’t think Pennsylvania is truly in play.
Colorado seems poised to turn blue, and fresh polling shows Obama leading in Virginia, another Bush state. He’s also ahead in New Hampshire, Nevada and New Mexico.
Obama also has made swing-state Missouri a toss-up – and even Indiana and North Carolina, both traditional Republican outposts, are in statistical dead heats.
The Electoral College map predictor site http://www.fivethirtyeight.com today forecast a blowout of 333 votes for Obama to 205 for McCain.