It became such a deadly issue during that period that Democrats largely abandoned any mention of gun-control laws in their campaigns or began running as gun-rights Democrats -- like former Gov. Mark Warner and Sen. James Webb in Virginia and Sen. Bob Casey in Pennsylvania.
Montana illustrates the Democrats' growing gun problems. The Obama high command targeted Montana early this year because it's been rapidly trending Democratic in recent years. Obama has visited the state five times in this campaign and has a large, full-time ground organization working there. But earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer bluntly told The New York Times that Obama could not carry his state because of his gun-control record.
"In Montana, we like our guns. We like big guns. We like little guns. We like shotguns. We like pistols. Most of us own two or three guns. Gun control is hitting what you shoot at," the feisty rancher told the Times. When asked why he thought the Democratic nominee could not win the state, he replied, "Guns."
The polls bear him out. A recent Rasmussen survey of Montana voters now shows Obama trailing John McCain by 53 percent to 42 percent. Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, who heads the New Democrat Network, released a new set of polls last week that found Montana "seems to be drifting back into the GOP camp."
Gun-owner doubts about Obama seems to be why he is running behind or is in a dead heat in states where a Democrat should be doing well this year -- like Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Nevada.
In heavily Democratic Michigan, for example, the economy is by far the No. 1 issue, but pollsters say gun-control fears are one of the reasons why the race is in a dead heat in the strong union state.
"The state has one of the highest gun-ownership rates in the country, and in a downbeat economy where Obama should be doing well, he is underperforming among union members and other folks with hunting backgrounds," said Michigan pollster Bernie Porn, president of EPIC/MRA.
Notably, Porn finds Obama "has slipped among the state's labor-union members by 10 points. His support was at 61 percent in July but dropped to 51 percent in August."
Republican campaign broadsides are portraying Obama as "the most anti-gun presidential candidate in American history" a message that now threatens to hurt him among his own party's base.