pjohns
10-11-2012, 12:04 PM
Larry Sabato is about as evenhanded of an analyst as one could possibly hope for--he is not a cheerleader for either the Republicans or the Democrats--and he has now indicated that Florida and Virginia are beginning to look better for Mitt Romney.
Here is a bit of what he said about the matter, in his most recent offering on the subject (in conjunction with two of his associates, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley):
We’ve long thought that in a close presidential race, Florida would likely end up in Romney’s column. Given that it was the president’s third weakest win in 2008, it naturally -- along with more Republican Indiana and North Carolina -- would be one of the states to fall out of Obama’s orbit in a much tighter race. So we’re moving Florida to Leans Republican, even though the polling there still indicates it is a toss-up. We’re also moving Virginia back from leans Democratic to toss-up. We know that the Obama campaign has long fretted about Virginia, understanding that the 2008 Obama vote was no predictor of 2012 success in the Old Dominion. There’s no longer any compelling justification that Obama has the advantage here. We could see it going to either candidate by a point or two or three. [Bold in original]
He further notes the following:
Given that some reliable political science models have long predicted that this was going to be a close, competitive race, perhaps the debate just restored the race to its natural, tight pre-convention state.
Oh, here is the link: Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball RATINGS CHANGES: OBAMA?S DEBATE DISASTER MOVES THE NEEDLE (http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/ratings-changes-obama’s-debate-disaster-moves-the-needle/)
Here is a bit of what he said about the matter, in his most recent offering on the subject (in conjunction with two of his associates, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley):
We’ve long thought that in a close presidential race, Florida would likely end up in Romney’s column. Given that it was the president’s third weakest win in 2008, it naturally -- along with more Republican Indiana and North Carolina -- would be one of the states to fall out of Obama’s orbit in a much tighter race. So we’re moving Florida to Leans Republican, even though the polling there still indicates it is a toss-up. We’re also moving Virginia back from leans Democratic to toss-up. We know that the Obama campaign has long fretted about Virginia, understanding that the 2008 Obama vote was no predictor of 2012 success in the Old Dominion. There’s no longer any compelling justification that Obama has the advantage here. We could see it going to either candidate by a point or two or three. [Bold in original]
He further notes the following:
Given that some reliable political science models have long predicted that this was going to be a close, competitive race, perhaps the debate just restored the race to its natural, tight pre-convention state.
Oh, here is the link: Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball RATINGS CHANGES: OBAMA?S DEBATE DISASTER MOVES THE NEEDLE (http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/ratings-changes-obama’s-debate-disaster-moves-the-needle/)