Election Post #5

Two of the major swing states for the 2008 election are Colorado and Virginia. Both have previously been seen as strong republican supporters. This year this is a big change. Currently, Obama is leading in both states. Both Colorado and Virginia hold a key amount of electoral votes, and if Obama can secure these two, along with other critical swing states, I believe it is safe to say Obama has the election down. Colorado has become a major state of interest in the last month. McCain has slowed down in his campaigning there since the Republican national convention, and thus allowed Obama to move in. Obama now holds over 50 offices in Colorado, rivaling McCain’s measly 10. Obama is outspending McCain in advertising in both Colorado and Virginia, due to immense support base. It is looking like this election, Obama will turn critical states that have been labeled as “red states” for a long time. Swing states are important to the electoral process because it gives the people in those states a fair vote. Swing states can go either way, and every vote counts towards the view of the state as a whole. Other states that are so democratic or republican, such as Massachusetts, make a single person’s vote seem useless. If a republican votes for McCain in Massachusetts, they know they are going to lose due to the overwhelming democratic population, so it is almost as if the vote is wasted. Swing states preserve the feeling that every vote counts, and that everybody needs to go out and vote. It also bring political attention to the western states that would otherwise be ignored. The candidates will fight for their vote. This is why swing states greatly benefit the country’s electoral process.