The battle has narrowed down to a very few states...

[kentuck]

Forget the national polls. They are meaningless. Kerry, as well as Bush, understands that the election is going to be fought and won in these few states in the next few days. The polls in those states bear watching - the others do not. At this time, Kerry looks in very good shape in PA, FL, and OH.....those are the biggies. But WI, IA, CO, and NM are still important. Kerry is coming back to CO, to Pueblo, in the next few days. It is an important visit, but not as important as OH, PA, and FL. I think those are the three states that we all need to focus on primarily. Just my "amateur" opinion.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Really drive me nuts that most of the country is effectively

neutralized.. taken for granted or given up.

When are we going to DO something about the wackiness of our system?!

[JuniorPlankton]

2. This is really fucked up

They say the electoral college "winner-takes-all" approach works to prevent the small states from being ignored. May be so, but as a side effect the largest states are being ignored. How is it better?

[Beetwasher]

3. It's IMPERATIVE That Kerry Firms Up WI, MN and IA

I'll breath easier when I see those firmed up...Then we can start kicking ass in OH which would win the election...

[kentuck]

5. You may be right, Beetwasher.....

That's the decision the Kerry campaign will have to make in the next few days.

[kentuck]

4. But I think there will be two or three states that will surprise ..

even the pollsters. Perhaps in the South? AR, NC, LA, or even TN could surprise. This would be a bonus.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. I'm pretty sure PA is ours.

and there are several scenarios where we win without both Ohio and Florida- here's one I came up with:



But, I think we will at least one of those 2 "big ones" if not both.

[deadmessengers]

7. 2 threads down

Right now on the "latest" page, someone is posting a poll that says "Kerry is firming up support to make the FL race too close to call" - but you say he's in very good shape.

Stuff like this is why I believe that the pollsters, even Zogby, are full of shit. We need to keep fighting for every vote in all 50 states (well, maybe not Idaho, Wyoming or Utah - they're lost causes) - every vote Kerry gets is a good one. Every vote counted for Kerry is one less opportunity for the Repugnicans to steal the election, and one more opportunity to repudiate * and the disaster that has been his Presidency.

DON'T GET COMPLACENT IN ANY STATE - WE HAVEN'T WON YET.

[jarab]

8. Yes. A very few states.

At this late date I'm sure each candidate - well, not Nader - has an internal polling cutoff margin beyond which no more time or money will be expended in that (those) states.
That makes perfect sense. If four years won't bring a state close enough to be termed "contested", what additional value is there to be had in ten days?
I'm quite sure the candidates' internal polling and perhaps some of the other public polls have weight beyond our comprehensions. We don't know which public polls Kerry takes more seriously; therefore we can't know for sure why he targets or eliminates certain states.
Contested large electoral states - Fl Oh Pa - are a given.
...O...

[jerryster]

9. State by state

I just went again to Time Mag's website of battleground states. The polls have been updated and it's good news/bad news. I still give Kerry OH and PA. I panicked at the first poll numbers for OH but saw it was a Faux News poll. The other good news is that when I did this last time I had Bush winning CO and AR. However, those 2 states have narrowed considerably. For numerical purposes I gave Bush Florida to see if Kerry can win without it. He can, but the worst news from the site is that it has Bush ahead in WI. I hope not, but I'm trying to be objective here. If Bush gets WI, Kerry needs IA and NM. IA has narrowed (Kerry has gained) and NM remains too close too call.