Obama Gains in States Such as Iowa, Florida Give National Boost

[Mark E. Smith]

Source: Bloomberg

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is moving ahead in a series of new
polls from Florida to Iowa, gains that are helping him maintain a national lead over Republican John McCain.

Obama was on top in seven of the 11 new state polls, while McCain claimed the advantage in Alabama, and the
two were statistically tied in Georgia, North Carolina, and one Ohio poll. The Democrat's edge, on average, is
now almost 8 percentage points in national polls, according to realclearpolitics.com.

McCain is losing ground to Obama as Americans become more focused on the financial crisis. Polls have long
shown that voters trust Obama more than McCain when it comes to handling the economy, and Obama is
focusing on the issue at every stop.

"I think people are starting to say to themselves, we're tired of the old ideology," Obama, 47, told about 250
donors at an Oct. 10 fundraiser in Philadelphia. He noted that the campaign was gaining points in Republican
strongholds such as Virginia, North Carolina and Montana.

The Illinois senator has led McCain by at least 9 percentage points in the Gallup Poll's daily tracking survey
in each of the last five days.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aFErqFrHQUnk&refer=home#

[VeraAgnes]

1. Could this be a result of the

50 State strategy?

[tclambert]

2. Absolutely, plus a hefty advantage in donations

Obama has been able to make a fight of it in traditionally solid Republican states. And he's outspending McCain in several battleground states many times over. McCain has had to abandon Michigan, and he wasted a lot of money on Pennsylvania. That adds up to campaign finance mismanagement. If he can't manage his campaign budget, why should anyone think he could handle the federal budget?