Choosing your Battlegrounds Wisely

Karl Rove was on Fox News Sunday this week talking about his current map:

Karl, you have Obama continuing to make gains. He's now leading in states with 273 electoral votes, three more than he needs to be elected president. McCain leads in states with 163 electoral votes in 102 states.

The standout point here is that Obama would win the election, if it were held today (according not only to Karl Rove, but also to Nate Silver, among others).

Of course, the chattering class poo-pooed the fifty-state strategy. Perhaps 50 was aggressive, but thinking outside Ohio-Michigan-Florida has had its impact. Most noticeably, Obama is spending his time in states that take the game to McCain:

In the days before and after Tuesday's presidential debate, Barack Obama will spend all of his time in states where Democratic presidential candidates rarely go, especially this close to an election.

This weekend and through the middle of this week, Obama is focusing on Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana. It has been nearly a month, for example, since he even visited the battleground of battlegrounds, Ohio.

The red state itinerary is the latest example of just how aggressively the Illinois senator has worked to widen the playing field, boosted by an economic crisis that he is now charging his opponent has handled in an "erratic" fashion.

Two weeks ago, I would've expected a lot of (frustrating) hand-wringing about this on the left. Now all I sense is hope.