9/26 Top Political Headlines

*WGOG’s weekly electoral college projection, based on the latest state-by-state polls, shows President Obama closing in on the 270 electoral votes needed for re-election.  Our latest projection shows Obama with 260 electoral votes to 170 for Mitt Romney.  The changes from last week include New Hampshire, which went from Obama’s column into the toss-up category.  However, polling suggests that Obama has pulled far enough ahead in Virginia and Wisconsin to place those state’s in his column.  Arizona, which leaned toward Romney in our last projection, has been moved to the toss-up column, though it’s likely Romney will pull out a win there on Election Day.  Under the latest scenario, President Obama is only 10 votes away from re-election, meaning a win in either Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri or Arizona will put him over the top.  Any two of the smaller states in the mix will do the trick as well.  Under the current scenario, Romney would have to win all of the following states to reach 270: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, Missouri and Colorado.  You can view the latest map here.

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*Not included in the above projection are new polls out today showing the impact that video of Mitt Romney’s comments on the “47%” have had in this presidential race.  A brand-new New York Times/CBS survey shows Obama leading Romney by nine points among likely voters in Florida (53%-44%), 10 points in Ohio (53%-43%) and 12 in Pennsylvania (54%-42%).  These are margins that have not been seen in this campaign up to now.

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*With a prop of a giant national debt clock spinning above $16 trillion behind him, Mitt Romney used the nation’s spiraling deficit to attack President Obama’s economic stewardship at the first stop of his Ohio bus tour Wednesday morning.  The Republican nominee was backed by well-known local celebrity golfer Jack Nicklaus.

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* A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds 72% of Americans think President Obama’s health care law will go fully into effect with some changes, ranging from minor to major alterations.  Just 12% say they expect the Affordable Care Act to be repealed completely.

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* New in bookstores: Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World by Evan Thomas.