McCain's situation only worsens...the pullout from Michigan is a bad sign for him. Now...

[Danger Mouse]

...what will his strategy be? Iowa is all but a lost cause for him. Wisconsin isn't looking good. He's in trouble in Florida and Pennsylvania, and Indiana and Ohio are far from sure things for him.
Obama's path to victory is wide and getting wider, McCain's path to victory is ever-narrowing. He screwed himself by voting 'yes' for the bailout...now he looks like a hypocrite. But what could he do? Voting 'no' would've made him a liar. He was screwed either way!
Now the debate tonight...it could hurt Obama, but not dangerously...but it could be a disaster for McCain. As long as Biden doesn't say something stupid (and I HIGHLY DOUBT he will), he can slaughter Palin as long as he doesn't let up against her.
It's looking better each day...I think we WILL win this thing. FINALLY. That doesn't mean I think we should relax, or get overconfident or cocky. What it means is that WE WILL KICK GRUMPY OLD MAN ASS.
They're running scared, and McCain is just realizing how screwed he is. Now's the time to hit harder, to show no mercy, to GOTV!!

EDIT: For hideous grammar.

[PermanentRevolution]

1. I think his only path left is this...

Concentrate everything on Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Taking all of those will win it for McCain if he can hold either Missouri or Indiana.

[tekisui]

4. PA is quickly slipping away,

Looks like Ohio is following.


And, he can forget about VA. IF that is his strategy, he's done.

[Danger Mouse]

5. You know, I bet we take Florida this time.

:)

[CakeGrrl]

6. I think Obama will hold PA and VA

And he has a good chance to hold onto Ohio and nab Missouri. I won't count on the others, but NC or FL would be gravy.

The problem for McCain is that Obama has 3 people who can draw crowds: himself, Joe and Michelle. Then he might get an occasional assist from Hillary and maybe Bill in addition to local politicians who help out in their own battlegrounds.

And then there's the Obama ground game.

McCain and Palin are the only two draws their campaign seems to have apart from whatever local support they're getting in each state. If they have a strong grassroots effort, no one's saying much about it.

On top of that, Palin is a detriment to McCain on two fronts: 1) She's not really reliable on her own thanks to her inexperience; and 2) She's eclipsed McCain in popularity among their base, to the point that it's embarrassing for him to go solo because he can't draw as many supporters as she can.

My money's on Team Obama to wear them down.

[PermanentRevolution]

7. I didn't say it was likely - just that it was the only strategy left for him

I don't see him winning VA or PA either, and without EVERY state I just named, he's done.

[x-g.o.p.er]

2. He's going on defense in core Red states

like NC and VA. If he pulls out of MI, Ohio and PA are probably trnding just as poorly.

Put a fork in him. He's done.

[WI_DEM]

3. He just opened several offices in VA and began running ads in Indiana

I'm sure in '04 Bush didn't have to do either. So this is bad.