Which Battleground states should Obama give up on?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Obama has unlimited $$$ but he doesn't have unlimited time. Only 2 weeks left Which states should Obama give up on? Here are some recent Battleground numbers.

Florida (27) 49.2 46.0 Obama +3.2 Toss Up
Ohio (20) 48.8 45.5 Obama +3.3 Toss Up
Nevada (5) 49.0 44.8 Obama +4.2 Toss Up
North Carolina (15) 47.3 46.0 Obama +1.3
Missouri (11) 48.8 45.8 Obama +3.0 Toss Up
West Virginia (5) 45.2 47.6 McCain +2.4 Toss Up
Indiana (11) 45.0 48.8 McCain +3.8 Toss Up
Colorado (9) 50.6 44.6 Obama +6.0 Leaning
Georgia (15) 44.2 51.0 McCain +6.8 Leaning
Virginia (13) 53.3 44.7 Obama +8.6 Leaning
New Mexico (5) 50.7 42.3 Obama +8.4 Leaning
Montana (3) 44.7 50.3 McCain +5.6 Leaning Bush
Minnesota (10) 51.2 42.4 Obama +8.8 Leaning

[WeDidIt]

1. Obama shouldn't give up on ANY Battleground state

Not a one.

He has McCain on the run defending more than he has resources to defend. Why not run up the score?

[Two Sheds]

2. Don't give McCain any time or space to rest.

If Obama runs around like a maniac to the end, so does McCain...if he can keep up the pace.

[Schulzz]

3. His strategy is perfect - he forces McCain to defend everywhere. And if one bigger state flips

- game over. So I think he should compete in every bg state - maybe not personally campaign everywhere, but give up no bg state.

[JCMach1]

9. Exactly, Obama has the cash... plus it helps all of the Senate races in those states like NC and GA

where it is very close...

[nichomachus]

4. Two reasons why he shouldn't

1. Force McCain to spend all his money as fast as he can.

2. Coattails, coattails, coattails -- if Obama can get a few more people to come out, we may pick up more seats in Congress.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Well during the last few days of the race the candidates will be running back and forth between a

handful of states. I think Obama will have to drop Georgia from his visiting list.

[speedoo]

6. Not necessarily.

Obama has several advantages for keeping all the states in play:

1. money. Even if he isn't there, he can run ads. A lot of ads. And don't forget the half hour nationwide just before election day.

2. more surrogates, better surrogates. He has: himself, Biden, Michelle, Hillary, Bill and several less well known people. McCain has himself. Palin is useless unless defending a RW state like Oklahoma. Cindy is useless. He has no one like Hillary or Bill. This means that over a two or three day period, Obama and his surrogates can literally be in all the contested states, while McCain can be in at most two.

I would not be surprised to see Obama in Atlanta at least once between now and Nov. 4.

[nichomachus]

24. That wan't tje question

The question was whether he should "give up." Obviously, he can't be in two places at once, but that doesn't mean he gives up on places he can't visit.

[Democrats_win]

7. Everyone can be SAVED! It's our mission from you know who.

That ONE.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. Arizona. nt

[Bucky]

10. I'm seing the polls closing in Alaska, but I think the upset we'd planned there just won't come off.

Wait! I take that back! We need Obama's coattails in Alaska to make sure Ted Stevens has more time to spend with his family. He TOTALLY owes his wife some quality (and not a few apologies) time after trying to blame her for him taking bribes from his contractor friend.

[sampsonblk]

11. NONE

He has enough money and time to compete in every battleground state. There is no excuse for leaving the down-ballot candidates out to dry. Spread the wealth.

[Zenlitened]

12. Denial, Confusion and Disbelief.

McCain's got a LOCK on those!

[OswegoAtheist]

27. Hmph.

I voter for "other" because I thought I was being clever by saying "give up the state of denial, McKampf's got that one locked." So Bravo :toast: on your answer.

Oswego "State of Confusion: Strong Republican, no electoral votes" Atheist.

[anigbrowl]

13. Every time he campaigns in a very red state, it brings others along

Campaigning on your home turf or in states that are already leaning your way is the electoral equivalent of holding a military parade instead of fighting your battles. I think Obama is most effective when people see him taking the fight to McCain even in places where McCain has the advantage.

[MissMarple]

14. ...never, never, never, never, never....give up.

The stakes are too high. Even if our El Paso County doesn't go Obama, we may be able to help swing Colorado blue. How pleasant it would be to see major inroads into Utah and Georgia.

This isn't only about this November, we are laying a progressive foundation for the future.

GOBAMA SOBAMA :woohoo:

We have those pseudo conservative elitists more than worried. Every vote counts.

[MarjorieG]

17. Building for the future, downticket, changing impressions about Dems, ability to govern.

Contesting will be hard when result is electronic and laws don't favor audits, but popular vote win and voters appeitite for an Obama presidency, win will give us leveage.

[Hippo_Tron]

15. IMO He's not going to actually force McCain to defend North Dakota, Montana, or West Virginia

McCain simply doesn't have the time and the resources to do it. His strategy is to just cross his fingers and hope that those three states actually come through for him.

That being said, I don't know everything about media markets. There may be a some crossover from these states into others.

[Overseas]

16. Looks like Republican electronic vote flipping is bad in West Virginia

so that might be a good place to give up on. Voting integrity compromised.
X # of cases documented already flipping Obama votes to Bush, oh I mean McCain.

So if I had to cut down my number of stops I'd avoid those in which the Republican electronic vote tampering seems most apparent during early voting.

But who knows-- maybe there are only a couple of vote flipping machines in W. Va. Maybe those are there to distract us from other operations.

I look forward to the nation's return to pen and paper, and fully auditable voting, subjected to random audits throughout the system.

With independent exit polls we trust to monitor other countries' elections, providing continuous coverage in real time.

[mb7588a]

18. Maybe Utah, but no others. nt

[RichardRay]

19. With the funds available I don't think he should give up on any

of them. McCain is unable to meet the challenge in any of the battleground states and the Obama campaign has the cash to keep it that way. If spending money in Utah were to start to cost coverage in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida it might be different, but with what's currently available and what I trust will flow into the coffers yet this month I don't think he needs to back off anyplace - make McCain spend money he doesn't have and keep the RNC funds out of the tight legislative races.

[Doremus]

20. Why would he "give up" on any of them? We're in the home stretch.

I don't even understand why you would ask, really. :shrug:

[TragedyandHope]

21. It will look something like this

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. Obama has a massive cash advantage, with his $150 million fundraising haul.

He shouldn't give up on any state; he has the wherewithal to campaign effectively everywhere in a way McCain can't hope to match. He should go all out and force McCain to spend his relatively paltry resources defending what ought to be safe states.

[diane in sf]

23. Keep battling, send surrogates when he can't be in multiple places at once.

[Awsi Dooger]

25. On that list, Georgia and West Virginia and Montana are the least likely

Followed by Indiana.

I wouldn't pull out of any of them. It can only benefit down the road. But there are unrealistic expectations here for many of those states. Many of them are going to be quiet routine losses on election night. Be prepared for that. It's not unlike the primaries where Obama's overall strength led to false hope in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania and California and Massachusetts.

[AlinPA]

26. I didn't know that GA is a battleground state. Or MT for that matter.

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. Now it is! whoo hoo! Obama moving up!

Looks like I was wrong about Obama giving up on GA.

[AlinPA]

31. This is where our campaign donations help; he can work several states at a time

and pour on the GOTV and campaigning in a few like NC, MO, PA. Winning GA and its totally a wipeout.

[Jamastiene]

29. NC...only because I know this state very well.

There is just no way he'll win it, no matter what the polls say. He'd be better off putting his efforts elsewhere where he CAN pick up electoral college votes.

[mwooldri]

30. Obama needs to campaign in all 57 states!

Before you say anything... let me give you some new states to campaign in.

Real Virginia.

East Carolina.

Western Carolina.

I'm sure someone can identify four "new" states....

Mark.

[BlooInBloo]

32. Obama is making McLoser choose which states to give up on....

after McBigot is hemmed in to 1 or 2 "last stand" states, Obama will (I expect) deliver the knockout blow in those states.

That's how I'm seeing the overall strategy, at any rate.

And it's not like I know anything at all about this sort of thing. :P