Rove: 4 Battleground States

Amanda Carpenter | August 14, 2008 9:55 AM

Election guru Karl Rove says the 2008 presidential election will be decided by the voters in Colorado, Virginia, Michigan and Ohio.

Here's the readers digest version:

Rove says Colorado is likely to go to Obama (9 electoral votes), Virginia favors McCain just a bit (13 votes) and Michigan (17 votes) and Ohio (20 votes) could go either way.

McCain could be competitive in Michigan (my home state) by focusing on Reagan Democrats and soft Republicans in the eastern part of the state, including Detroit. Rove says McCain's call for more drilling and nuclear energy will work with those voters. (And, lemme tell ya, it gets awfully cold in Michigan. People watch their heating bills closely. There were some days growing up there I would have gladly sidled up next to an oil pipeline just like those caribou do in Alaska.)

In Ohio, Rove says McCain can make a play for those working class voters Hillary snatched up from Obama in the Democratic primary and aggressively target independent suburbanites to balance out the black vote Obama is likely to Cincinnati.