Here's why Team Obama should fight in Arizona, Indiana and Montana in addition to the "swing states" [View all]

[Texas Lawyer]

First, those states are very "winnable."

The most recent poll in Arizona is from earlier this month by Purple Strategies (which has a notorious pro-R house effect) and even this R-biased poll gave Romney only a 3% lead over the President (which is within the 4% MoE). Despite the fact that it was his home-state, McCain carried Arizona by only 8.5% (and Romney does not enjoy the home field advantage that boosted McCain).

There is no recent public presidential polling in Indiana, but the President carried Indiana in 2008.

A PPP poll earlier this month gave Romney only a 5% lead, and the Romney campaign has fallen considerably since then.

Second, there are real down-ballot prizes to be won in Arizona, Indiana and Montana.

Earlier this month, a PPP poll put Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona just one point behind flaky Republican Jeff Flake. This is a potential Democratic pick up in the Senate. In addition, AZCD-1 and AZCD-9 are races worth watching, and we could use some coattails in the races for these two open seats.

When Tea Party nutjob Richard Mourdock beat traditional Republican Senator Richard Lugar, this race became competitive and Democrat Joe Donnelly is a terrific candidate. There hasn't been much polling, but the little polling there has been puts this race tied or within the margin of error. This is another potential Democratic pick up in the Senate. INCD-2 and INCD-8 are two close races where we are slight underdogs who could use some down-ballot magic.

Montana Senator Jon Tester is in a closely-fought contest to hold this seat against a challenge from Denny Rehberg. This is an important Senate seat for us to hold. Montana's statewide Congressional seat (currently held by Rehberg) is another competitive race where we could use a boost.

Could the President win Arizona, Indiana and Montana? Definitely!

But don't forget that there are also three competitive Senate races and five competitive House races in those states, and we need those votes to pass the President's agenda after he wins.