President Elect 2008 Electoral College Projection (9/14/2008)

President Elect's analysis of the 2008 Electoral College vote, pitting Republican Senator John McCain against Democratic Senator Barack Obama, shows that if the election were today the United States would be electing its first black President.

President Elect projects that Senator Obama will win 273 electoral votes and Senator McCain will win 265.

For the first time since 1960, it looks like a vice presidential candidate could change the face of the race. McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate has energized conservatives who seemed to be sitting out this election. Traditionally red states that were just leaning towards McCain's camp are solidifying for him and, more importantly, traditionally red states that were in Obama's camp are returning to the fold. Even a few blue states have lightened their shade a bit.

Changes in this map include: North and South Dakota and North Carolina back solidly on the Republican side. Virginia leaning from Obama back to McCain. And Washington and Pennsylvania move from solid Obama support to leaning.

If this map holds it looks like New Mexico and Colorado could hold the keys to this election. Both are very close and I seriously considered moving them to leaning McCain. With just one of them he would have enough votes to win the presidency.

So how bad is this for the Democrats? Not that bad actually. All it means is the advantage they had is all but gone. They are basically back to the map they fought against in 2000 and 2004. Pick off one or two red states and they're in.