Battleground: More numbers
Posted: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 9:09 AM by Domenico Montanaro
A new round of CNN/Time battleground polls shows McCain up in Indiana among likely voters (51%-46%), Obama ahead in New Hampshire (53%-45%), Obama up in Ohio (50%-47%), Obama up in Wisconsin (51%-46%), and the candidates tied in North Carolina (49%-49%).
COLORADO: Per the Rocky Mountain News: "More than 100,000 Coloradans registered to vote in the past five weeks, leaving the state almost equally divided between unaffiliated, Republican and Democratic voters." Democrats led the charge in the last month, outregistering Republicans by a margin of 2-1.
In Denver, the looming registration deadline has phones ringing off the hook. "The Denver Elections office received more than 6,000 registration or mail-ballot applications from voter drives alone on Monday. More than 95,000 forms have been received in Denver since May." It was so busy yesterday, an election clerk told the Rocky, "It sounds like Las Vegas in here."
MICHIGAN: They've lost that lovin' feeling. Michigan Republicans are still trying to keep hope alive, after the McCain pullout that many call "disappointing" and some mutter was badly executed. But the consequences for downballot candidates could be tough.
NEVADA: Was Sarah Palin really a "former union member”? The Las Vegas Sun made some calls and was left scratching its heads.
OHIO: A Washington Post/ABC poll has Obama up six points in the Buckeye State, 51%-45%. “The state's voters, long suffering from a poor economy and newly battered by the turmoil in the financial, credit and housing markets, give Obama stronger marks on handling the economy, creating jobs and dealing with tax policy. The senator from Illinois also has a big lead as the candidate more in tune with the economic problems people are confronting, a significant benefit as more than half of all voters consider the economy and jobs the campaign's top issue.”
More: “No Republican has ever been elected president without winning Ohio, and the state's 20 electoral votes are of paramount importance to McCain. If the senator from Arizona were to win every other state that President Bush carried four years ago, but lose Ohio, he would fall four electoral votes short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Only Florida, of other major battlegrounds the Republicans won in the past two elections, looms as large as Ohio in determining the next president.”
"A weeklong period in which Ohioans could register to vote and immediately cast a ballot ended Monday with turnout that didn't quite match the expectations of election officials -- or the campaign predictions that preceded it. … The early voting window was expected to benefit Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as his campaign and supportive advocacy groups drove members of typically Democratic constituencies -- the homeless, college students and poor people -- to the polls."
WISCONSIN: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel checks out the youth vote in Wisconsin.
