Obama's Electoral College Strength: Polls Don't Justify Unity Ticket

This is a response to the continuing argument that national and state polls justify a unity ticket.

It's simply wrong to infer that because Barack Obama polls behind John McCain within the MOE, he:

a. Must put Hillary Clinton on the ticket and
b. Has no room for error in the electoral college

I'm sure most of you Kossacks out there are well familiarized with the arguments against a Hillary ticket, but I wanted to take an opportunity to bring down this notion that Barack is somehow weak because of these national poll numbers. That's simply wrong, and here's why. Barack runs strongly in the following states:

CA: +11.2% (55 EV)
CT: +13.2% (7 EV)
DC: +71.6% (3 EV)
HI: +19.5% (4 EV)
IA: +6.2% (7 EV)
IL: +18.6% (21 EV)
MA: +8.6% (12 EV)
MD: +14.4% (10 EV)
ME: +9.4% (4 EV)
MN +10.2% (10 EV)
NJ: +8.2% (15 EV)
NY +10.3% (31 EV)
OR +9.3% (7 EV)
RI +10.2 (4 EV)
VT: +23.5 (3 EV)
WA: +10.4 (11 EV)

= 207 EV

And is ahead in these key swing states:

CO: +3.4% (9 EV)
MI: +1.4% (17 EV)
NM +2.8% (5 EV)
OH +0.1% (20 EV)
PA +2.9% (21 EV)
WI: +2.7 (10 EV)

= 82 EV

Even if Obama loses Ohio, that still leaves him with 269 Electoral Votes, in which case he only needs one of the following states: Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, Nebraska (one delegate from their proportional system), North Carolina or Virginia. How is that electoral weakness? I simply don't see it. The point remains the same: National polls didn't mean shit 6 months ago when Clinton and Giuliani were cruising, they don't mean shit now, and they won't mean shit in November.

Additionally, there are other factors at work here. Once the nomination is over, we should expect to see a "unity bounce" or "nomination bounce" or whatever you want to call it in many of these states, particularly, the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. As kos has pointed out on numerous occasions, Democrats WILL come home in November after a 6-month spotlight of media scrutiny has been shone on John McSame.

Lets also not forget the massive fundraising and organizational advantage that Obama will likely enjoy and exploit between now and Election Day. Please tell me again where this electoral weakness is?

I know a lot of Hillary and McSame people will keep griping about Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, and Tony Rezko, but Obama has already proven he can weather this storm, and none of those scandals permanently dented his numbers against either Hillary OR John McBush. In fact, he's come out of those scandals stronger than ever.