The news from CNN's John King that I posted on earlier--namely that McCain's top people think Colorado is probably unwinnable--has a lot of folks scratching their heads. Mark Halperin paraphrases King:
[King] Says the campaign's "risky strategy" is counting on Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and a comeback in Pennsylvania.
Fair enough. Here is the thing, though: This list is slightly misleading. If McCain comes back in Pennsylvania, he does not need to win Virginia. And if he does not come back in Pennsylvania, then it's game over for him. In other words, Virginia does not matter any more in this scenario. Considering the recent polling in the state, that could have been the McCain campaign's calculation. Admittedly, the polling in Pennsylvania does not look good either. And because these states tend to be on a rough spectrum, I don't quite understand why McCain thinks he can win PA but not VA or CO (or, to put it more clearly, it is hard to imagine him winning PA but losing VA). Regardless, if for whatever reason the McCainiacs think they are in deep trouble in Virginia, the push for Pennsylvania allows them to--in essence--ignore Old Dominion.
--Isaac Chotiner