CNN: McCain Pulls out of Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa

CNN reports that the McCain campaign is pulling out of Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa. Electoral-vote.com comments.

McCain's strategy at this point is to win Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, and--get this--Pennsylvania. The first six are arguably swing states, but our three-poll average puts Obama 12 points ahead in Pennsylvania. McCain is effectively betting the farm on a state which looks like an Obama landslide. It is a strange choice. Colorado looks a lot easier than Pennsylvania. James Carville once famously said that Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama sandwiched in between. Maybe McCain is going to go all out to win the white working class men in the Alabama section of Pennsylvania. McCain can't possibly do it on the economy. What's left? Maybe run against the Wright/Ayers ticket? Any way you look at it, this has to be a desperation move.

This move makes sense in electoral and financial terms. Obama has a huge cash advantage so it is understandable that McCain would concentrate his resources in states with the biggest electoral payoff. North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania also contain portions of Appalachia where Obama struggled in the primaries. Still, Pennsylvania does seem like a lost cause and is a measure of the desperation of the McCain campaign at this point.

UPDATE: The McCain campaign in Colorado is denying this report. However, the campaign has reportedly slashed spending on ads in Colorado, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania while increasing advertising in Florida and Virginia.

--Ballard Burgher