McCain to stump in states he should be winning

Polls Cause Campaigns to Change Their Itineraries

Confronting an increasingly bleak electoral map, top aides to Senator John McCain. said Thursday that they were searching for a “narrow-victory scenario” and would focus in the final weeks on a dwindling number of states, using mailings, telephone calls and television advertisements to try to tear away support from Senator

Mr. Obama’s advisers said they would use the remaining 19 days of the campaign to focus mainly on capturing states that President Bush won in 2004; he is going to Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia, over the next three days and spending two days in Florida next week.

In a sign of the differing fortunes of the candidates, advisers to Mr. Obama said he was escalating his effort in West Virginia...By contrast, Mr. McCain is spending the next three days campaigning in states that Mr. Bush won in 2004 and that earlier this year Republicans had considered relatively safe.

So there we are, the state of the race. Barack Obama will paddle down a rural river with Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and David Axelrod trying to rouse up the cracker vote and burn some couches in West Virginia. Johnny Mac will go grovel to Republicans in states that Bush won by double digits that are now tilted to Obama, in an effort to squeak out a narrow victory based on pity, racial discomfort, and fear of an Islamic theocracy.

But there are a few ways for McCain to win. Obama would have to have died from a massive coronary and made his last words "elect John McCain" in most of these scenarios, but they exist. Obama might mobilize his GOTV operation for the wrong day. The RNC might get all registered Democrats tossed off the voting rolls in swing states. Barack might break the Hoover Dam. God might ascend Sarah Palin to heaven. Truthfully, Obama is so far ahead he can't even spend all his money. He bought a half hour on every network just to debut the pilot of his politically themed sitcom, dubbed the Black House, that he and Joe Biden wrote. You won't believe who the wacky next door neighbor is.

Lest you think McCain's dynamite begging strategy might give him the final edge, Five Thirty Eight has the current electoral college map at 352.2 Obama, 185.8 McCain. That's a lot of bin Laden and Ayers flyers that need mailin' out.