John, one lingering question from tonight: how can Barack Obama redraw the map? If West Vriginia and Kentucky are out and Ohio and Pennsylvania look shaky, he is going to have to rely on other states to get to 270 electoral votes in November. My state of Virginia, which Obama won big eons ago (February it was, but it seems like the 1970’s), was supposed to be one state he could pick up. But now comes the Commonwealth Poll showing John McCain leading Obama by 8 points with these tidbits:

McCain holds a strong lead in the more rural areas of the state including the northwest and western areas and a 9‐point lead in the Tidewater area. In vote‐rich Northern Virginia, Obama has a slight edge over McCain (41% to 36%). Obama also leads by 43% to 39% for McCain in the south central area, a region which includes Richmond. . . McCain garners 44% to Obama’s 34% among independents who are registered to vote. Registered Republicans support McCain over Obama by a wide margin; 81% for McCain to just 6% for Obama. Older voters, ages 65 and older, also show strong support for McCain. Among registered voters under age 65, nearly equal portions side with each candidate. Registered Democrats strongly support Obama (71%) over McCain (14%) in the general election. As expected, Obama has the support of nearly all African‐Americans in the state.

Ah, but the South (south of Virginia, which is really not the South) — what about all those primary voters Obama turned out there? There frankly just aren’t enough Democrats. Remember North Carolina? McCain is leading comfortably there too.

So it may be too late for Hillary Clinton, but the electoral road is looking quite a bit rockier for Obama than it did two months ago. And I’m still searching for the state(s) which voted for George W. Bush in 2004 which Obama can flip to him.