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Can McCain Close?
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — Chuck Todd: "Some folks will view the latest polling memo from McCain's pollster as nothing more than rose-colored spin to prop up Republicans before Election Day. But you'd be a fool to dismiss it out of hand."

Midday open thread
Daily Kos — ... In other words, they're going to vote for Obama because George Bush destroyed all their wealth but this is ironic because Obama's going to destroy their wealth. Or something. Joe the Plumber, political philosopher. I can't wait for him to run for Congress in 2010. That'll be FUN. Jon Kyl, Republican Senator from Arizona: I think John McCain might be added to that long list of Arizonans who ran for president but never were elected. You know, Barry Goldwater, and Mo Udall, and Bruce Babbitt, ...

The trifecta
Jonathan Martin's Blog — Chuck Todd identifies three states McCain has to count on. The problem McCain has is that a movement of undecided voters toward him might not be enough to stop Obama in Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania. And it is in those three states in particular that McCain has to make serious progress in order to turn his goal of reaching 260 electoral votes (not out of the question) into a goal of actually reaching 270. Clearly, the McCain campaign is counting on something happening in Virginia or Pennsylvania, as a lot of new money and candidate time is being poured into ...

Will it close?
Ben Smith's Blog — ... Chuck Todd explains why it's still a race, but also what McCain's specific problems are, given his assumption that most undecided voters will, as they have in the past, break to the Republican: ...

What's wrong with this picture? Obama leads PA by 13, but it's a battleground. McCain is ahead in Arizona by 2, but it's not a story.
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth — ... , were released from Pennsylvania both showing a 13 point lead for Obama. But, if you pay any attention to the political pundits, you'd think that state is a toss-up. Why? Because the latest tactic from the McCain campaign has been to spin the idea that Pennsylvania is a lot closer than it seems. The traditional media dutifully adopts the GOP's narrative about Pennsylvania because 1) they always fall for GOP tactics and 2) it makes for a good story. Chuck Todd continued to play along with the Pennsylvania bluff today: ...

What the hell is going on?
The Reaction — ... As Chuck Todd puts it at MSNBC, "it's hard to imagine this race not tightening," as if it hasn't already, mainly because of the undecideds, most of whom are "folks who, four years ago, voted mostly Republican," but who "are not yet on board when it comes to voting for Obama." ...

McCain’s Pollster is Optimistic
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines — ... by next Tuesday.” That sounds like obligatory fluff to some politicos, but NBC’s Chuck Todd sees it differently. ...

On Race Tightening
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts — ... There has been some talk of the race between McCain and Obama tightening as we hit the home stretch (for example, Chuck Todd was writing about it yesterday, and I heard it discussed on an NPR program (I am not sure, which one) late this morning). An example of actual numbers from earlier in the week: the ...