Mac's Road to 270 Electoral Votes Looks Hard

Dramatic shift in electorate favors liberals: poll

(NEWSER) - Blue states are far bluer than red states are red, says a new Gallup poll. Party registrations favor Democrats—they lead by 10 or more percentage points in 29 states and the DC, compared to four states where Republicans dominate—suggesting that Dems can expand on ther gains they made in last year's elections, the Hill reports. More»

(NEWSER) - At 5 tonight, a wave of exit-polling results will be distributed to media insiders, who'll try manfully to resist sharing anything that might prejudice voters—even though it will kill them. At 6 pm, the results will start rolling in, and Politico gives you a play-by-play guide to what to look for as each state reports. Some highlights:

• Indiana: Polls close at 6 in the East, 7 in the West. An Obama win in the hotly contested state would give the McCain campaign pause.

Republican picking up little to no ground

(NEWSER) - John McCain isn’t moving up on Barack Obama in the polls—at least not fast enough to be significant, writes statistics guru Nate Silver at his blog FiveThirtyEight.com. The Republican appears to be about six or seven points back. While he’s picked up maybe a point in the last week, he has to gain six more in five days to close the gap—not an easy task. More»

'We are one week away from changing America,' Dem says in Ohio

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama warned voters today against acting as if he’s already won the election, urging them not to “let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week,” CNN reports. Speaking in Canton, Ohio, Obama charged that 4 more years of “Bush-McCain” policies was a “gamble” too big to take. More»

Campaigns like low cost, lower accountability

(NEWSER) - Although conventional radio may seem obsolete, it is an important tool of the presidential campaigns this year, USA Today reports. Political advertising is flooding the airwaves in battleground states as the campaigns take advantage of the cost: $500 to $600 per airing for a 30-second spot in Northern Virginia, compared to at least $1,700 or more for a 30-second TV spot. More»