Obama Falling Out of Contention in Florida

A Republican resurgence is going on nationwide; one manifestation is that John McCain is pulling away in Florida. The St. Petersburg Times reports:

Barack Obama could be on the verge of falling out of contention in Florida.

Despite spending an estimated $8-million on campaign ads in America’s biggest battleground state and putting in place the largest Democratic campaign organization ever in Florida, Obama has lost ground over the summer. Florida has moved from a toss-up state to one that clearly leans toward John McCain, fueling speculation about how much longer the Democratic nominee will continue investing so heavily in the state.

McCain now leads in Florida by five to eight points in most polls. Howard Dean’s vaunted “50 state strategy” hasn’t panned out, as Obama’s dreams of capturing traditional Republican strongholds are fast vanishing, and the playing field is being reduced to a handful of swing states.

The Republican resurgence isn’t limited to the Presidential race. The Democrats’ advantages in the generic Congressional ballot and in party identification are steadily narrowing, and Republicans are doing better in races across the country. An interesting example is Washington’s gubernatorial race, a rematch of the 2004 contest in which Democrat Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi by a handful of votes that may or may not have been fraudulent. Until now, Gregoire has steadily led in this year’s polling. But yesterday’s RasmussenReports finds Rossi with a six-point lead.

It’s too early for what our liberal friends would call triumphalism, but the tide is flowing strongly in the Republicans’ direction.

To comment on this post, go here.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses