U.S. presidential race tightens as candidates focus on key states

MCCAIN STILL HAS A SHOT

U.S. Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama and his Vice Presidential nominee Senator Joe Biden (L)  wave to supporters during a campaign rally in Sunrise,  Florida, October 29, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

For McCain to win, he must hold all the states that went for President George W. Bush four years ago, which would be enough to give him 286 electoral college votes and victory.

He could even lose one mid-sized Bush state, such as Virginia, which has 13 electoral votes, and still have more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.

To be sure, that won't be easy. Obama leads in many of those states, including Florida and Ohio narrowly.

And McCain doesn't have any good prospects right now for offsetting the loss of a "red" state as he doesn't lead in a single state that went Democratic in 2004.

Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Iowa, said McCain still has a shot.

One way for McCain is to stay on the economic message, raising doubts about whether Obama's tax increases on the wealthy would hurt the economy while trying to convince voters that his own plan is better for growth.

Of course, another way that McCain could win is if the polls are wrong, particularly if there's a so-called "Bradley effect," in which white people are overstating their support for Obama, born to a black father and a white mother, to pollsters.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei