Forget that my fave political pundit, Chris Cillizza, has the race tightening in his weekly roundup. Take a look at these numbers below from Real Clear Politics. These are the 19 states that could legitimately be considered potential swing states. Of them, Obama is leading in all but 5. Apart from those, McCain has 119 electoral votes in the bag and Obama has 126 - meaning that for Obama to have a lead in 14 out of 19 swing states is pretty impressive. With the swing states figured in, Obama leads 301 to 237 in the electoral college - a pretty good margin 5 weeks out. Sure, it's a little concerning that the race has tightened for Obama in some unexpected states, but that's to be expected as the race closes. Besides, when he's less than 2 points down in Ohio, Florida, and Nevada - all of which are probably must-win for McCain to have a chance - it's hard to complain.
Ohio (20) 45.1 46.3 McCain +1.2
Florida (27) 46.0 47.6 McCain +1.6
Nevada (5) 45.3 47.0 McCain +1.7
Missouri (11) 45.8 49.0 McCain +3.2
Indiana (11) 45.5 47.8 McCain +2.3
NH (4) 46.7 45.4 Obama +1.3
Virginia (13) 48.0 46.2 Obama +1.8
NC (15) 46.8 46.5 Obama +0.3
Wisconsin (10) 48.2 44.4 Obama +3.8
Penn. (21) 48.2 43.8 Obama +4.4
Minnesota (10) 48.0 45.2 Obama +2.8
Colorado (9) 50.2 44.8 Obama +5.4
Michigan (17) 48.9 42.3 Obama +6.6
Washington (11) 48.8 42.8 Obama +6.0
New Mexico (5) 50.3 44.3 Obama +6.0
New Jersey (15) 49.8 42.8 Obama +7.0
Maine (4) 50.3 42.7 Obama +7.6
Oregon (7) 49.8 40.8 Obama +9.0
Iowa (7) 51.0 41.8 Obama +9.2