Obama Campaign Finds Time for Boasting

Jonathan Weisman reports on the presidential race. Obama campaign officials showed uncharacteristic confidence this afternoon, saying Sen. John McCain would need an implausible, 40-point swing among independents in the next 11 days to win the crucial state of Pennsylvania. And at the same time, they said, Sen. Barack Obama ’s position is strengthening in Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico and Iowa – all states carried by President George W. Bush in 2004. With Obama visiting his grandmother in Hawaii, campaign manager David Plouffe convened a conference call to show some bravado and try to capture headlines while the candidate is off the campaign trail. The state of the race, as seen through the Obama campaign prism, looks very bleak for the Republicans. Early voting in North Carolina, New Mexico, Iowa and Nevada is tilting Democratic, said Jon Carson , who heads Sen. Obama’s field operations. By Monday, he predicted, Democratic early voting in Florida will have erased the GOP’s ... (link)