That the Badger State would go blue this year hasn't really been in doubt for a while now. Ad buys there would just be tossing critical money down the drain, and McCain is fighting in states that should have been reliably red, like IN, NC, CO, etc. His resources are tight and expending more of them in states like WI and MI would be a critical mistake and huge waste.

Let's all remember that Obama trounced Clinton by like 18 points in the WI primary in February (yes, Virginia, it was a primary and not a caucus!) That was after most polls predicted him to win by 5-10 points at most, and Clinton certainly contested that primary. WI developed a crush on Obama then, and that crush has not diminished since then. The state borders on his home state, and is surrounded by Obama-loving IA, MI, and MN. The Upper Midwest is staunchly blue this year.

The idea of McCain being competitive in WI and possibly even picking it off might have been viable months ago, but they probably should have conceded the inevitable and diverted resources elsewhere well before now.

Is that a landslide I smell?

My husband and I got two yesterday. We're both registered, rabid Democrats, but the previous owners of our house were probably Republicans, and we've gotten mailings and calls every election ever since.

One call was paid for by the McCain campaign; the other was from the state party and probably targeted state senate and assembly races, since it made a general pitch to "vote Republican" to keep taxes low. (A pretty laughable assertion in itself, but that's another story.) That call also mentioned that we'd be getting an absentee ballot in the mail in the next couple of days, and to be sure to fill it out and send it in.

We won't be voting Republican any time soon. The yard sign distibution in our area is leaning Obama, but there are some pretty big McCain signs too. Hard to tell what'll happen in our little corner of the state, but this much I know: the Obama headquarters was humming last night, and volunteers trickled in steadily the whole time I was there. And even the firmest of firm Republicans among my work acquaintances makes a sad face when McCain is mentioned.

I just sent another $25 to Obama. I want to see those suckers go down in flames

After all, Illinois is right next door. We may be FIPS, or Flatlanders, but neighbors nonetheless.

Don't make us boycott Door County! :)

The same Republicans who are cutting their losses by pulling back from Michigan and from Wisconsin to better use their resources elsewhere still can't understand or won't accept the idea that we should cutting our losses in the war against terrorism by pulling back from Iraq to better use our resources in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Same as the old (2004) strategy. The McCain campaign has evidently determined that their only road to the top is to try for an approximation of the Bush 04 electoral map. They seem to be giving up on all the states Kerry claimed -- first MI, then WI. Expect the McCain effort in PA and MN to go dark (or nearly dark) next week. With formerly red IA out of reach for McCain, and both CO and NM looking problematic, they've got their work cut out for them.

I expect to see McCain to turn his efforts toward OH, FL, CO, VA, and NC. That's a lot of "absolute must win" states to be trailing in, but it's the only approach that makes sense.

Verrry good point. I assume the reason why republicans can cut their losses in Wisconsin but not in Iraq is because the political costs of bailing on WI are fairly minor and will only add to their being trounced next month, whereas bailing on Iraq may well put them out of power for a whole generation once everyone gets their head around just what a strategic fiasco the war has been.

Exactly the right response! This is no time to get complacent. The full court press must continue relentlessly, and Obama can only do it with our help. I am even starting to see TV adverts here in Houston, and I love it! But the Obama volunteer force and donor base must stay fully engaged.

Whether you are a first time donor, or have been giving all along, log on, give as you are able, and do as much you can. McCain and Palin are down, but it is up to us to ensure that come November 5, they will be down and out for good!

I'm buying shares in camo companies, and firms that sell shaved head wax. And guns and ammo. Redneck Flaming Christmas is coming early this year.

they are pulling back.

After all, they have been so successful as a party in the last eight years, bringing down the US, to its knees, so its people will accept anything the so-called leaders want to force us to accept. Things like handing over trillions in cold hard cash to their friends, the Wall Street experts, for instance. The repubs have been a smashing success, generating all this new business for their military industrial friends, fomenting seeds of rage that can ignite into future middle east wars, thrashing away our rights so we have no where to run, and thus are forced against our wills and interests to continue to accept having our very spirits and souls be destroyed so that Moloch can be sated.

Of course, the Dems have not been slackers either, tacitly accommodating all of the desires of the party to which they are supposedly opposed. Think how happy Pelosi and Reid and all the other rats must be, licking their chops as they take on the reins of this newly developed crypto-fascist nation. ...Unfettered spying on citizens, waterboarding for fun, preemptive nucular wars anywhere the natives decide to take some initiative to throw off the chains of the oppressive state.

It is a good world that is coming. If you are a trillionaire.