A couple of weeks ago I posted about Gallup's breakdown of candidate support according to red, blue, or battleground state. It was remarkable at that time (using data from Oct. 6 - 12) because, in addition to the expected Obama leads in blue and battleground states, Obama was polling only an average of four points behind McCain in the red states. If Obama was truly so close to McCain in such strong Bush territory, then the likelihood of several of them going to Obama in the end would be pretty great. Was a true landslide victory on the way?

However, since that post my enthusiasm for this prospect waned as I watched McCain's lead expand again to six points, and then further to eight.

Oh well.

A quick check just now, though, has renewed my hope again for a totally satisfying, irrefutable clobbering -- the spread in the red states is down to one point! Of course, included in this figure are states which we already know have been either leaning toward Obama (Virginia), too close to call (Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina), or still leaning slightly to McCain (Georgia, Montana, North Dakota), but this list also includes such "dark" red states like Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.

Just take a good look at the complete list of 25 (!) red states:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
Georgia
Indiana
Idaho
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming

Obama is just 1 point down in these!  This is simply staggering, isn't it? If this translates into even 25 to 30 percent of this list, that will mean Obama could pick up five to eight red states!

I know, I know, this really is probably way too much to hope for, but damn, wouldn't that be absolutely fantastic? :o)