Eight states hold key to White House

Sorry, Florida. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney may be ardently courting America's biggest battleground state, but their real passion is for Ohio. Because as un-American as it sounds, all votes are not created equal in a presidential election. Don't be offended. With barely two weeks before Nov. 6, it's all about the electoral math. And as uncertain and unpredictable as the campaign looks heading into the final stretch, Ohio remains President Obama's best opportunity to block a Romney win — and Romney's biggest hurdle.

That's why in the past week, four of the top 10 TV markets for campaign ads were in Ohio, and only one was in Florida (Orlando), according to NBC. That's why, since September, Romney and Paul Ryan have done 34 Ohio campaign events and 20 Florida events, while Obama and Joe Biden have done 11 campaign events in Florida and 18 in Ohio.

"If you take Ohio off the board for the Romney campaign they basically have to win seven of the remaining eight battleground states," said Robert Gibbs, a senior Obama campaign adviser.

A president is not elected by the popular vote, but by the electoral votes of each state, and most states are so solidly Democratic or Republican that modern presidential campaigns are waged in eight to 12 states that can swing to one side or another. A resident of deep-red Utah, say, or deep-blue New York, won't see any campaign activity except for fundraising because the candidates need not worry about carrying them.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win. Based on polling and political trends Obama has 191 electoral votes solidly in his corner and Romney 169. Throw in the states that are leaning toward Obama or Romney, and it brings Obama to 237 electoral votes and Romney to 206.

Still up for grabs are eight states with a combined 95 electoral votes: Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire and Florida.

With the right combination, either candidate can win.

Obama's paths

For all the ups and downs of the 2012 campaign, the map has remained remarkably static through much of the past year. North Carolina, which Obama barely won in 2008, now appears to be leaning Romney, but overall the map still offers Obama more plausible paths to victory.

The president's campaign long ago spelled out four basic routes to a second term, and there also are multiple combinations of those paths. Assume he wins the same states John Kerry won in 2004, a total of 246 electoral votes.

• The Western path gives Obama New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Iowa, and brings him to 272 electoral votes.

• The Southern path, looking less likely based on recent North Carolina polling, gets him to 274 with wins in Virginia and North Carolina.

• The Midwest path involves winning Ohio and Iowa, giving Obama 270 votes.

• The simplest of all paths is through Florida. Win the Sunshine State's 29 electoral votes and Obama is re-elected with 275 electoral votes.

Via: Tampa Bay Times

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Obama Trolling for the Knucklehead Vote

Pundits have ridiculed the string of fluff television, radio, and magazine appearances that Barack Obama has been making the last few months.  They are wrong.  He has a strategy and is executing it well.  He is seeking and winning the votes of those Michelle Obama calls knuckleheads.

Inside-the-Beltway journalists have decried Barack Obama's refusal to hold many press conferences.  His canned speeches and reliance on the teleprompter have provided them with precious few chances to score points among their colleagues for gotcha questions.

Ah...just kidding.

Most journalists would rather attack Mitt Romney like a pack of hyenas than ask the president any questions that may discomfort him.  Instead, Barack Obama sends out his hapless Press Secretary Jay Carney to field questions -- or people like Susan Rice to evade truthful answers regarding the murders of Americans in Libya, the march of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Arab Spring going up in flames (along with American flags and embassies).  That is what they are paid to do: make excuses, fabricate answers or curse those seeking answers, fall on the sword if need be.  They will still keep their lives and their jobs.

Barack Obama would rather nurture his bromance with David Letterman, who has had the president and the first lady on his show numerous times.  Letterman gets a big ratings boost; the Obama campaign gets free airtime in front of an audience in millions.  That is certainly worth millions of dollars -- or at least a Kennedy Center honor.

Or perhaps, Barack Obama prefers chatting about his pepper preferences and favorite superpowers with a New Mexico talk show host to explaining how his administration screwed up security in Libya so that those bumps in the road (otherwise known as the murders of Americans) happened.  Contemplating fantasy abilities must be far more enjoyable than revealing the true history of the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal -- a topic that might be of interest to citizens of a border state.

Via: American Thinker

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Mitt Romney: “I have a vision for an America that is an energy superpower”

Team Romney has released their official and detailed energy platform in a new position paper, and Mitt is talking it up on the campaign trail today in New Mexico. It’s all great stuff, in my humble opinion: fewer federal regulations; more state self-determination; more drilling, both offshore and terrestrial; less government “investment” in politically preferred pet green energy projects; a quicker green-lighting procedure for major energy projects and North American cooperation; and etcetera.

A crucial component of Mitt Romney’s Plan for a Stronger Middle Class is to dramatically increase domestic energy production and partner closely with Canada and Mexico to achieve North American energy independence by 2020. While President Obama has described his own energy policy as a “hodgepodge,” sent billions of taxpayer dollars to green energy projects run by political cronies, rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline as not in “the national interest,” and sought repeatedly to stall development of America’s domestic resources, Romney’s path forward would establish America as an energy superpower in the 21st century.

“An affordable, reliable supply of energy is crucial to America’s economic future. I have a vision for an America that is an energy superpower, rapidly increasing our own production and partnering with our allies Canada and Mexico to achieve energy independence on this continent. If I am elected president, that vision will become a reality by the end of my second term.” -Mitt Romney

THE ROMNEY AGENDA:

• Empower states to control onshore energy development;
• Open offshore areas for energy development;
• Pursue a North American Energy Partnership;
• Ensure accurate assessment of energy resources;
• Restore transparency and fairness to permitting and regulation; and
• Facilitate private-sector-led development of new energy technologies.

Amen to that! It’s often said that, under Obama anyways, America is a energy-rich nation acting like an energy-poor nation. There is a huge and booming global market for energy resources, which we have in spades, yet we continually and quixotically take ourselves out of the game and refuse to get in on a market share that would bring in major economic growth and revenue. A national agenda like this would help put Americans back to work and invigorate our limping economy without adding more costly, sluggish bureaucracy to the mix.

Via: Hot Air

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