Obama Leads In Eight Battleground States

Barack Obama is leading John McCain in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, according to a new Big Ten Battleground Poll. "Obama is clearly winning the Big Ten battleground," says Charles Franklin of Pollster.com. The results:

As the race for the White House enters its final days, the Big Ten Battleground Poll shows Barack Obama holds significant leads over John McCain in eight crucial Midwest states.

The individual surveys of between 562 and 586 randomly selected registered voters and those likely to register to vote before the election in each of the states were conducted by phone with live interviewers from Oct. 19-22 and were co-directed by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientists Charles Franklin and Ken Goldstein with the cooperation of colleagues from participating Big Ten universities. The polls each have a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points. The states included in the poll were Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, home to the 11 universities in the Big Ten conference.

Those states were key battlegrounds in the 2004 election, and last month the Big Ten Battleground Poll showed a tight race in all of those states but Illinois, which Obama represents in the U.S. Senate. The first poll was taken just as the U.S. financial crisis first intensified and before the massive decline in the stock market, when McCain was enjoying his highest poll numbers of the campaign in the Big Ten and nationally.

"In September, we saw virtually the entire Big Ten as a battleground," said Franklin, co-developer of Pollster.com. "Now Obama is clearly winning the Big Ten battleground. The dominance of the economy as a top issue for voters is the overwhelming story."

The new Big Ten poll shows Obama ahead in every Big Ten state, including Indiana, where McCain held a slight edge in September, and Ohio and Pennsylvania, where last month's poll results showed the two candidates in a dead heat.

Time magazine's latest poll finds that Obama leads in Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia -- four states won by Bush in 2004. Their results show that McCain's latest attacks aren't having much of an impact:

The polls also suggest that the McCain campaign's recent attempts to link the Democratic nominee to former domestic terrorist William Ayers and the liberal organizing group ACORN (which the GOP accuses of perpetrating voter fraud) are not resonating with most voters. ... Although a majority of voters in Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina had heard of Ayers and ACORN, less than a third of voters said such issues would affect their votes.

Comments

[Gail54]

Indiana + 10!

[ramsha]

McCain claims that he has the "crisis management" experience because he was in the Navy during the "Bay of Pigs". As a low ranking pilot in the navy, he was only expected to obey the orders and not participate in any high level decision making. What a stretch of facts.

[streetkid5]

My conservative friends have e-mailed me about two October surprises:
1. Andy Martin's 11th hour suit in Honolulu, demanding to see Barack's birth certificate;
2. The arrival in Canada of yellowcake uranium, from Iraq.

What's the skinny on these two last-minute items?

[mooses4obama]

Anyone seen Trig's birth cert yet?

[thistooshallpass]

I wish I could assume an Obama victory. But I failed to eat or sleep through the 2000 election failure to count. Uncounted votes don't count.

I caution all, Don't worry about the polls or the votes cast

Instead, worry about the voters not allowed to vote. By sheer chance, Republicans are purging the voter lists in key states. This election could wind up in the courts for weeks. The legal fees could be astronomical because no one is going to take losing with a smile this time. If the race is really tight in the Ohio or Florida,or Pennsylvania and if McCain loses he could refuse to make a concession speech and take his case to a sympathetic judge.

For those working in the campaign, keep working.

For those making donations, please keep giving.

I am still phone banking and still contributing. Only a few more days. Keep the faith,

YES WE CAN

[care4mypeeps]

Thanks and much love to all those who voted early. You guys have run the first leg of the race,leaving it up to us whose States do not have early voting to bring up the rear.

Since victory is in sight we can't drop the ball, encourage everyone to Rock the Vote.
While we are at it we need to ready ourselves to unify the body.

All those who know how to pray, please start now. Remember Barack as he goes to Hawaii to spend quality time with his grandmother Toot. Also remember Michelle and the girls as we as the Biden family as they are grieving the loss of his mother in-law.

[melpol]

The real issue in the presidential election is: War or Peace. The American public does not need a senseless war, and that is why the old warrior will go down in defeat. The winner Obama grew up with anti-war friends, not socialist fanatics as falsely reported, and is a true peace candidate. But those whose profits are based on war will be closely watching him after he takes the role of president. If he attempts to dismantle the U.S. war machine there will be tremendous pressure put on him to cease and desist.

Defense contractors are not alone in their desire for war. They are supported by profit minded American based international corporations that need ever expanding markets for their products. Both were needed in one era to keep America prosperous,and are called the two horns of the Devil. But times have changed. Oversea markets can be opened and maintained by creating a product efficient nation that expands markets by peaceful means.

It will be an interesting presidency as Obama slowly puts the screws on the war mongers. The old warriors will not give up easy and will release fear producing propaganda. They will try to get Americans to believe that Goblins and Gremlins are everywhere. But if peace loving people become aware of, and stop bloody greed, the U.S. will continue being the wealthiest nation on Earth and a safer place to live in.

[ProgressiveThought]

Just voted for Barack in Georgia...good chance we may turn GA Blue.

The best 3 hours of my life in which i had to wait.

Joe Biden and Barack Obama 08

[koulflo]

Almost time to say Obama wins but for fraud, which is a real possibility
http://koulflo.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/looks-like-obama-wins-or-mccain-steals-election/

[jacqmac]

THINK IT, but DON'T SAY IT!!

SAW KARL ROVE on FOX last night with a WHITE BOARD--REMEMBER the WHITE BOARD???
I didn't wait to find out what he was going to say about the white board, but the fact that he has one and is doing math, leads me to believe that a fraud is in the works.

VOTE! VOLUNTEER to WORK AT THE POLLS on ELECTION DAY! MAKE PHONE CALLS! GIVE RIDES! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES---and THEN, AFTER THE LAST RESULTS ARE IN---
SAY IT--SAY IT LOUD AND PROUD---PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!!!

[ThePublicRecord]

http://www.pubrecord.org/commentary/414-mccain-obama-and-the-psychology-of-decisions.html

McCain, Obama and the Psychology of Decisions

The Candidates: They're Ambivalent and They Can't Help It. No One Can

The bailout crisis at the beginning of October dramatically illustrated the decision-making psychologies of the two presidential candidates - that is, their ability to deal with ambivalence.

[Emlyn]

Have you noticed how the Stock Market has been going up and down? I think it is because of the upcoming election. If Obama wins, I think the stock market will go way up but if McCain wins (god forbid) I look for this country to go south into a depression.

Go Obama!

[dwlinzy]

OBAMACRIMES.COM



McCAIN/PAL­IN........­.......THE­Y ARE READY AND MORE EXPERIENCED.......

why dont you her obama ask the crowd..."how many of you folks work for a company that makes $250,000.00 a year or more?"......now thats the question! companies would have to reduce workers and or benifits, profit sharing would go to hell. Or they would have to raise cost of service or goods which cause inflation.­......thin­k about it.........there should be NO tax raises at all......are you folks liberal or what?

[formerprosecutor]

eerrrr...ummm. the 250K is for personal earned income; if you have a mom and pop dba and they are netting 250k a year in taxable personal income goody for them. That isn't corporate earnings; 7 of the ton ten corps in the us did NOT pay one penny in income tax last year. close the loopholes!!!

[Mildmannered]

I agree with formerprosecutor.

[eva belle]

Two words my friends...New Hampshire

[Rrrracer]

Hey all, just got back from the Indianapolis rally and I must say, what an awesome day and great turnout!

While waiting in line, we got pulled aside by an Obama worker who gave us a special wristband, and ended up sitting in the bleachers behind the podium!

The speech was great... hard to tell from where we were but I would estimate around 20K people or so in attendance? People jam packed everywhere you looked, filled up the whole park and beyond.

The icing on the cake? Got to shake Barack's hand and chat ever so briefly! I'm very enthused and must say I think the odds of Indiana turning blue are pretty good. He has a lot more support here than any other Dem candidate has in a looooong time.

Oh yeah, donated to the campaign, and voted Monday... took 1/2 hour :-)

Obama/Biden 08!

[formerprosecutor]

Lucky duck...i am so jealous..did he have the same charisma as he does on television?

[60sidealist]

I had the same luck at the Chillicothe OH rally and YES he is charismatic AND the real deal. Every person who got to shake hands with him and spoke to him got a spoken reply in return. He listened to each and every person and what we had to say. He also started the rally on time and it was a positive experience all the way.

[Rrrracer]

Very gregarious and approachable. He spoke with another older gentleman across the aisle for a good couple of minutes when he was asked a question, shook hands with everyone that he could.

I shouted out "hey Barack, how about some love?" and he turned, smiled and pointed to me, came over and shook our hands (had to reach waaaay up because we were at the top of the riser!)

http://www2.indystar.com/autofocus/galleries/show/4059/23

He's the real deal IMHO. I came away impressed with his sincerity.

[Rrrracer]

Oh yeah, Indy Star's crowd estimate was 35,000.

[schicklett3]

Don't listen to the polls - get out and VOTE!!!!!
No matter what the polls show - if we don't vote it will be meaningless.

[BluePride]

The Ballad of Johnny McCain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDceTz3UAgI

Everybody RUN... HomeComing Queen Palin's got a GUN!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59mOukUZNUo

[cherlybear]

We just have to make sure everyone is allowed to vote AND that their votes are counted as intended. I don't trust those voting machines...