Obama's Electoral College Math adds West plus West plus West

Sen. Barack Obama will return next week to New Mexico and Nevada as part of his effort to win the Rocky Mountain West, his spokesman Robert Gibbs said today.

“We think there are big targets out West for us,’’ Gibbs said.

While Colorado and surrounding states are important, Obama’s approach isn’t limited to the mountain west.

“Washington and Oregon … have traditionally been battle grounds,’’ Gibbs said. “Barack Obama is in a far greater position, better than either Sen. Kerry or Vice-President Al Gore was four, eight years ago in locking those two states down.

The likely Democratic presidential nominee’s spokesman answered questions at a breakfast with reporters. While the top news was Obama’s decision not to use public financing in his race, Gibbs also talked strategy, particularly Electoral College math.

“If you look at Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado in particular, people have shown polling that shows Montana a competitive race,’’ Gibbs said.

Republican presumptive president nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona has said he’s an authentic Westerner who understands Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico far better than Obama.

To that, Gibbs said that, “these states are changing in their appeal. What they’re looking for is someone who is not dogmatic, who is pragmatic. There’s a pretty fierce independent streak in a lot of Westerners and a lot of Western states.”

He hinted that they’d also tie McCain to Bush and the president’s low approval ratings.

“Offering a third George Bush term out West is not seen in a very popular way,’’ Gibbs said.

Heck. Go even further West. Gibbs said he thinks Alaska's in play. The last -- and only -- Democratic presidential contender to win there was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Gibbs acknowledged that only three states changed their party loyalty in the presidential election in the last eight years: New Hampshire, New Mexico and Iowa.

Polling indicates far more are in play, he said.

“The map that we look at is fundamentally different, New Mexico, Nevada, all the states I just mentioned out West,’’ Gibbs said. “Florida and Ohio are in very good shape. We believe that we have the advantage of holding all of the Kerry states and that we have the opportunity to play offense in a lot of different states.”

Virginia and North Carolina also are competitive, he said. Virginia's electoral votes also last went to a Democratic president in 1964. North Carolinalast did so in 1976.

The long primary battle allowed the campaign to build organizations in every state, Gibbs said.

Eschewing public financing will allow Obama to target all of those states, he acknowledged.

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