Obama now has a solid lead in states that account for 189 electoral votes, and he is well positioned in states representing 71 more electoral votes, for a total of 260, according to a tally by The New York Times, based on polls and interviews with officials from both campaigns and outside analysts. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. McCain has solid leads in states with 160 electoral votes and is well positioned in states with another 40 electoral votes, according to The New York Times tally, for a total of 200. Just six states representing 78 electoral votes — Florida, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Nevada and Colorado — are tossups.
Obama appears to have significantly more options to reach the 270 threshold, particularly if McCain fails to win any states that Democrats won in 2004, like Pennsylvania, where the Republican ticket has been competing especially vigorously. -Chron.com
Many political journalist and columnist say that if the election were today Obama would win(by a small margin).However, since the elections are not today and there is thirty long days left till Nov. 4, Obama needs make damn sure he does not mess up. A small mistake on his part could be more detrimental to him than the McCain camp.However, with dubious attacks from the McCain party, Obama can just sit back, relax, and watch McCain and Palin make themselves look silly.On the other side of the situation McCain seems to be loosing his cool. The number one thing I think McCain should do is stay calm. America already views this guy as an angry old man, no need to fuel it even more. One thing that we have seen Barack Obama do really well is keep his composure under pressure. Another aspect John McCain should do is establish himself with the middle class and mention what he would do to fix the economy. Sarah Palin isn't helping McCain win over the middle class right now, although she is winning over more viewers for SNL. In the next upcoming debate, McCain should state how he himself would help reestablish the middle class. Everyone's focus is on this terrible econmony.
If McCain can somehow prove that he a better choice than obama in fixing the economy than he could have a chance. The final thing McCain needs to do in order to be a fighting condender in this race is to disassociate himself from the status-quo. Many people think that having McCain in office would be the Bush administration all over again. If John McCain can genuinely show undecided voters that he's a maverick and not a mimic then he has a shot at presidency.
