NOBAMA'S NUMBERS

Sen. Obama is leading in most of the presidential election polls these days. As of Saturday (9/20/08) Rasmussen has him up by one over Sen. McCain, and as of Friday (9/19/08) Gallup has him up by 5. This is discouraging. However, while NoBama leads in the general election polls, McCain is making some headway in individual state polls. And ultimately, with the electoral college deciding our next president, these are the numbers that matter. Currently, McCain is competitive in a number of "blue" states such as Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The race is also tight in Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico. Depending on which polls you refer to, and there are so dang many of them, the McCain-Palin ticket is even leading in some of these states. McCain absolutely has to hold on to all of the states that President Bush won in 2004, and Ohio may once again prove to be the deciding factor. I am hopeful that adding Palin to the ticket, as an Alaskan, will help in western outdoorsy states like Colorado and New Mexico. And her love of guns and hunting may help in agrarian areas of states like Minnesota and Wisconsin that have large rural communities that thrive on guns and God. Let's hope these purple states bleed red in November.