Obama Hopes to Find Southern Comfort in Va.

We still don't know how the candidates think: Noonan

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama is rising in the polls, but he still seems “exotic”; John McCain is playing the maverick but his maneuvering on the bailout may have been “too cute.” In a week with “all categories upside-down and out the window,” it’s time for both candidates to explain how they think, and why they believe in their respective parties, Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal. More»

An Obama win will energize the struggling party, but McCain won't accomplish anything in office

(NEWSER) - A John McCain win in November would be the worst loss Republicans have endured in decades, Peter Beinart writes in Time. On the other hand, an Obama win—and subsequent torrent of liberal legislation—would reinvigorate demoralized Republicans. If McCain takes the White House, he will likely compromise with Democratic lawmakers and rob the GOP of its conservative fervor. More»

(NEWSER) - Buoyed by recent Democratic gains in Virginia and President Bush's unpopularity, Barack Obama is taking aim at the once reliably red stronghold, the Washington Post reports. John McCain’s campaign is optimistic that he will carry the state, which Bush won twice by wide margins, but a top adviser cautions that even though the state has gone Republican since 1964, you can’t just “add water every 4 years.” More»

Insiders look at which might move left or right

(NEWSER) - Forget the old swing-state conventional wisdom. Salon rounds up some experts and asks where the electoral map might flip in November:

• The eastern Rust belt (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan) is John McCain’s best hope. Ohio is traditionally weakest for Democrats, but the Michigan primary remains a problem, and aging Pennsylvanians are GOP-friendly.

GOP strategists say cards stacked for big electoral victory

(NEWSER) - Despite the odds stacked against Republicans, GOP analysts are cautiously saying that John McCain will not only win, but he might do so by a comfortable margin, Politico reports. When Obama’s specific and geographical weaknesses are played against McCain’s strengths, the result adds up to a win of up to 50 electoral votes, more than President Bush's 35-vote win in 2004. More»