McCain will win Florida, Missouri and Nevada. It will come down to Ohio, Virginia and Colorado. If he is going to win the election, Mccain will have to win all three of those states. Two of these states are traditionally Republican (Colorado and Virginia) and one is soft Republican (Ohio), He cannot afford a 269-269 tie as the House would indubitably elect Obama and the Senate would elect Biden.

This is my favorite poll tracking site as it allows you to manipulate the EC map: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/poll-tracker.htm

I don't know what John McCain's explaination for his stance a couple of months ago is, but a recession has a very clear definition and I'm not certain it has been met yet; and John McCain has many (political) reasons why he would want people to remain very optimistic about the ecconomy.

Beyond that, pointing out the origins of the problems in the housing and mortgage markets is more about trying to get people to think of this as being a much older and larger problem than most people think it is; it is not a problem that George Bush Created, and both parties were involved in its creation and had opportunities to prevent the fall far before it happened.

I don't see Obama winning Ohio... what with his NAFTA position change... and the fact that a lot of people here still think he's a secret muslim.

I am not sure about the Muslim perception, but his waffling on free-trade made Ohio more competitive than I thought it would be. It is now appearing as if OH and VA are beginning to lean towards McCain. That leaves Colorado as the state to watch. If McCain does win those two states in addition to NH and Obama wins CO...this election would make the controversey in 2000 look like nothing. Certain Democratic states would have majority Republican delegation (MI and NM), and certain Republican states (TN and AR) would have a majority Democrati delegation. I believe the Democrats have a slight majority in state delegations right now, but I am fairly certain the country does not want to go this route.

I am not sure about the Muslim perception, but his waffling on free-trade made Ohio more competitive than I thought it would be. It is now appearing as if OH and VA are beginning to lean towards McCain. That leaves Colorado as the state to watch. If McCain does win those two states in addition to NH and Obama wins CO...this election would make the controversey in 2000 look like nothing. Certain Democratic states would have majority Republican delegation (MI and NM), and certain Republican states (TN and AR) would have a majority Democrati delegation. I believe the Democrats have a slight majority in state delegations right now, but I am fairly certain the country does not want to go this route.

I wouldn't mind the election being thrown into the House of Representatives. It's really the only conceivable thing that might get rid of the Electoral College. Having all the campaigning going into a few swing states each year instead of actually trying to appeal to an entire nation seems fairly ridiculous.

The direct popular vote has it's own weaknesses.

It deemphasizes any minority groups and makes the Majority groups the ones who get all the attention.

Protects small towns vs urban only intrests...

Protects small states from big states. (Since how they get money from the gov is divided by state, it makes sense to me that how we elect the president is decided by states>)

Protects states if large problems cause voter turnouts, for example if a flood hits, or storms on election day.

Makes it easier for small time members of the parties to get elected.

All that would happen if it was changed was that instead of a few states, it would be a few cities.