The Electoral Map

New polls in New Jersey and Connecticut show John McCain tied with or leading both of his Democratic rivals in those two states. A new Rassmussen Reports survey of Garden State voters released today has McCain edging Barack Obama 43-42% and beating Hillary Clinton 45-42%. A Quinnipiac University poll of Connecticut voters [...]

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No, not this blog, but the small-letter electoral map. Here’s what she had to say about the political geography:
“You have to look at what the electoral map is likely to be in the fall, and I don’t think anybody doubts that a Democrat has to have a number of the big states anchored in [...]

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Both Ben Smith and Chris Cillizza turned their backs to the East today — Smith wrote a quick note about the DNC’s memo about “McCain’s Problems in the West” and Cillizza wrote a post handicapping the Democratic primary in Montana. Both reporters anticipate that the region will be in play. “Except for Utah, those [...]

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Pennsylvania political patriarch Terry Madonna had a interesting thought last week that Barack Obama might be able to pull off an unexpectedly strong performance in the Keystone State by using Gov. Ed Rendell’s strategy from the 2002 gubernatorial primary.  Madonna and Michael Young identified three key points:

Run up huge margins of victory in suburban Philadelphia [...]

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Maryland celebrates its 300th birthday today, according to National Geographic. While Maryland may not be the cradle of presidents and generals that the mighty commonwealth of Virginia is, it did inspire The Wire. So we congratulate you, Maryland. Happy Birthday.

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A day after we declared that all eyes were it on North Carolina, it looks like everyone is turning their gaze to Indiana, which hosts its Democratic primary on the same day as the Tarheel State.
The Hotline suggests, “Forget Pennsylvania. Welcome to Indiana, the new North Carolina.” Sandwiched between Illinois (Obama) and Ohio (Clinton), [...]

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And not just on UNC hoops.  A consensus is emerging that the Tarheel State could be the decisive contest, according to Mark Halperin.  If Barack Obama wins, then the nomination is his; but if Hillary Clinton prevails, then the battle will drag on.
It’s the first time since 1976 that North Carolina will be in the [...]

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Sen. Evan Bayh, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton, suggested a new way for the superdelegates to consider whom they should support in the Democratic battle.  Speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition” on Sunday, the Indiana Democratic proposed that they should decide based on the Electoral College votes of the states that each candidate won.  The New [...]

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In the top ten on Digg’s “World & Business” section today is an item titled “Visual Validations of the 50 State Electoral Strategy” that links to a University of Michigan page with some fascinating cartograms. The digger and the author of the Michigan site make the point that each state is hardly of a [...]

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If Bill Richardson had endorsed Barack Obama before the Texas prima-caucus, could he have helped the Illinois senator win?
Hillary Clinton won El Paso by 41,000 votes. If Richardson had campaign there and cut Obama loses to, say, 30,000 to 35,000, and also picked off a few thousands voters in small counties across west Texas, [...]

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