Last Week June-July
McCain Obama McCain Obama
Alaska.....................
.............None........88
Colorado.........553.....52
2.....1,104......802
Florida..........1,040..1,3
27......None...5,028
Georgia....................
.............None...1,824
Indiana..........None....26
3.......None...1,268
Iowa................352...1
48.........946......700
Michigan...........761...95
4......2,655...2,240
Minnesota........472.....18
.........575........70
Missouri...........353...50
4......1,600....1,246
Montana........None.....37.
......None.......136
North Carolina..245...300.......N
one....1,620
North Dakota.......1....22.......
....71.......157
New Hampshire.225..172.........
342.......391
New Mexico......214..155.......
..440.......260
Nevada............365..297.
.....1,134.......633
Ohio................812..80
1......2,568....2,486
Pennsylvania..1,612..948...
...4,602....3,937
Virginia............312..86
8......1,509....2,660
Wisconsin........487..432..
....1,426....1,198
It would appear that the McCain campaign was hoping not to have to spend any money in Indiana. But with the current polls, it looks like they are going to have to use some of their resources there.
Part of the magic of running these campaigns is to force your opponent to spend money defending states that they think should be "safe", and then they cannot spend as much money in the battleground states. This is a particularly critical issue this year, since the McCain campaign spending is limited by public financing.
Obama plans to spend $39 million in Florida. I hope he reserves some of that money to making the polls more accessible to black, latino and Jewish voters. If people can get to the polling booth, and if the votes are counted fairly, then Obama will win in Florida. But it is unlikely that can happen.
It is a chess game.