So, this story at TPM made me laugh. And smile. But mostly laugh.
The McCain campaign just wrapped up a big damage-control conference call with reporters, and in it, they seemed to make a striking concession: That the race is uncomfortably close in two reliably red states, Indiana and North Carolina.They also seemed to concede that the core battleground states that they must win are all red states.
Asked to explain their route to an electoral college win, campaign adviser Greg Strimple cited the following six states -- Ohio, Virgina, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, and North Carolina -- and described them as "all states where we're tied or ahead."
Strimple added that victories in all of them would effectively give them a route to victory, when combined with wins in other battlegrounds. But he seemed to clearly state that those six were crucial to them winning -- the foundation for their victory. All of them, of course, went for Bush four years ago.
Notice anything? I'm not too smart, but, umm, Kerry States + Iowa + New Mexico + Colorado = 273. (Hint, Team McCain: 273 > 269. 269 is a random number I selected using my random number generator, that's all.)
Now, maybe they just confusedly omitted Colorado and New Hampshire. And Nevada. And New Mexico. (I assume that even they are smart enough to realize that Iowa is a done deal now, but perhaps that's an incorrect assumption.)
Or, after having actually this team of 'savants' in action for the past six weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the extent of their thinking at this point. (Maybe they have a parlay in Vegas they need to hit, regardless of the rest of the outcome.)
So, I say -- Go ahead, Team McCain! Pour all your resources into those six states (you'll probably lose most, if not all, of them, anyway). Don't you worry about the mountain west and New Hampshire -- nothing could go wrong for you there ...
The McCain campaign held a conference call with political director Mike DuHaime and senior adviser Greg Strimple to argue that the Arizona Senator retains a viable path to 270 electoral votes.Their map: Win six toss up states -- Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana and Ohio -- that have traditionally favored Republicans and hold the solidly GOP states to get to 260 electoral votes. Then find 10 more electoral votes in some combination of Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
[...]But the problem with that logic is it assumes McCain can hold those six red state tossups, which, in the case of Ohio, Colorado and Virginia (at least) looks to be a dicey proposition.
Good news, Virginia! This time, it's our turn to be the difference makers. :)