NYT, pg1, lead story: End of Battle Centers on Turf Bush Carried; "increasingly dire" for GOP

[DeepModem Mom]

End of Battle Centers on Turf Bush Carried
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY
Published: October 26, 2008

Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama are heading into the final week of the presidential campaign planning to spend nearly all their time in states that President Bush won last time, testimony to the increasingly dire position of Mr. McCain and his party as Election Day approaches.

With optimism brimming in Democratic circles, Mr. Obama (presented) on Monday what aides described as a summing-up speech for his campaign in Canton, Ohio, reprising the themes he first presented in February 2007, when he began his campaign for the presidency.

From here on out, Mr. Obama’s aides said, attacks on Mr. McCain will be joined by an emphasis on broader and less partisan themes, like the need to unify the country after a difficult election.

Mr. McCain has settled on Pennsylvania as the one state that Democrats won in 2004 where he has a decent chance of winning, a view not shared by Mr. Obama’s advisers.

But Mr. McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, are planning to spend most of their time in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana, all states that Republicans had entered the campaign thinking they could bank on....

While some Republicans said they still had hope that Mr. McCain could pull this out, there were signs of growing concern that Mr. McCain and the party were heading for a big defeat that could leave the party weakened for years....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/us/politics/27campaign.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all

[Democat]

1. Don't get too confident folks, this all comes down to GOTV now!

If our voters get to the polls, we win. If they don't show up, we lose. We have to make sure that Obama supporters actually vote, not just talk about it.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Could not agree more! I've been posting positive articles with a little hesitation...

trying to keep "feet on the ground." What I post, however, usually reflects what's out there in the press -- and here it is, lead story in NYT.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. McCain won't win Pennsylvania unless he can purge most of the new voters

Obama is ahead by 8-12 percentage points here. The destruction of so much pension wealth has turned a lot of older folks against McCain, and PA has one of the largest elder populations in the country.

I'm not sure that the RNC can mount an effective purge in time; I think we have a too-close-to-election-time limit. All purges, I think, have to be done within 90 days of the election. I am not certain about that, but I'm pretty sure.

Pennsylvania has been turning bluer since 1992, and it's finally reached critical mass; the same can be said for much of the rest of the country. With a little luck, we'll get rid of GOP dominance in Harrisburg (the state capitol), too.

--p!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Thanks for an "up-close" view, Pigwidgeon! nt