McCain’s shrinking electoral map [View All]

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http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/10/01/195514.aspx

John McCain just got five more reasons to really, really hope for the focus of the U.S. presidential campaign to move off the economy - a new set of CNN/Opinion Research polls showing his campaign faltering in five key swing states.

Minnesota - Obama 54%, McCain 43%

Missouri - Obama 49%, McCain 48%

Florida - Obama 51%, McCain 47%

Nevada - Obama 51%, McCain 47%

Virginia - Obama 53%, McCain 44%

The CNN poll results reflect, generally speaking, the trend in several battleground states over the past week and a half as the U.S. financial crisis became a top-drawer issue in Congress and on the campaign trail.

A couple of things: CNN's numbers for Missouri are a bit higher than in most other polls, which have long shown McCain in the lead. The polls showing McCain in the lead, however, are somewhat dated.

The trends toward Obama in Florida and Virginia - which hasn't voted Democrat in a presidential election since 1964 - are in line with results of other recent polls taken during the financial crisis.

Is something really happening for Obama in Missouri? Ask McCain. The Arizona senator stopped in Independence, Mo. on Wednesday for a campaign rally, the first time he's been to the show-me state in a while.

With Bill Clinton stumping today for Obama (and doing so enthusiastically, we might add) in Florida, McCain's campaign should be doing more than a little fingernail biting about the Sunshine State.