The New Republic

The list of battleground states has exploded with one week before the election. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota are suddenly receiving millions of dollars after most assumed they rested safely in Obama’s column. Many Obama fans are fretting and Romney fans are enthralled that they’re on the offensive. But interpreting ad spending is extraordinarily difficult in this election and these buys are insufficient to alter perceptions of the state of the race. READ MORE >>

With just one week before next Tuesday’s presidential election, the Romney campaign has apparently decided to embark on a last-minute effort to win the Keystone State. But while Pennsylvania is always tempting for Republicans, there's a reason Democrats always seem to win by a slight margin. And despite Obama's weakness in coal country, that pattern seems likely to endure through this election.  READ MORE >>

 A quiet polling day as Sandy made landfall in the northeast. While there have been plenty of days when many felt that the trackers and national polls were unusually divergent, yesterday's polls were all tightly clustered around a tied national race. On average, the 19 national polls conducted since October 15 show Obama ahead 47.47 to 47.26, while Romney holds an even slighter 47.66 to 47.58 lead in the 12 national polls conducting live interviews with cell phones over the same period.  READ MORE >>

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Four years ago, Obama only carried Florida by 2.8 points while winning by 7.3 points nationally. Since the first presidential debate, pundits have downplayed Obama's chances in the Sunshine State, but recent polls show Obama performing about as well in Florida as he is nationally, suggesting that Obama’s standing has remained relatively resilient since 2008. Not only is Florida still in play at this late stage, it's not a surprise that it's remained tight in a close election. READ MORE >>

With just nine days to go until the presidential election, new data from the National Journal shows ad spending surging in the so-called “Firewall” states as the Romney campaign tries to find paths to 270 and Obama tries to guard against Romney’s increased spending. READ MORE >>

PPP capped off a strong polling weekend for the president by finding Obama gaining a few points in Ohio, Florida, and New Hampshire. READ MORE >>

Despite one of the worst economies in the country and a large Mormon population, Nevada was always an uphill climb for Romney. Minorities constituted a larger share of the Nevada electorate than any other battleground state, enabling Obama to win the state by 12 points in 2008. READ MORE >>

In 2008, Colorado was the state that got Obama over 270 electoral votes. He won it by 9 points back then; today, though, Obama’s locked in an extremely tight race there. And to many who anticipated that Obama would build his reelection campaign around winning “new coalition” states where Democrats fared relatively well in 2010, Colorado’s descent down the tipping point state list has come as something of a surprise. READ MORE >>