According to the Washington Post, McCain is now planning to run ads in blood red Montana. This is a state that Bush won by over 20 points with 59% of the vote in 2004. The last time a Democrat won the state was in 1992, when Perot managed to gain over 20% of the vote:
The Republican National Committee will begin running television ads in Montana beginning on Wednesday, a sign of how heavily the playing field is tilted against the GOP with just eight days left in the presidential election.
Montana has been a Republican stronghold for years at the presidential level. President George W. Bush carried it with 59 percent in 2004 and a similar 58 percent four years earlier.
I guess Obama wasn’t kidding when he unrolled his 50-state strategy earlier this year. But McCain appears to be unrolling a (losing) 50-state strategy of his own. Barack Obama has been advertising in the state, and, as we’ve seen throughout the election and even the primaries, when Obama plays, the poll numbers follow:
The most recent Montana State University poll showed Obama with a 44-40 lead over McCain, with a 5 percent margin of error.
What we’re witnessing is the equivalent of John McCain forcing Obama to defend a state like New York.
McCain’s first ad, sponsored by the RNC, will run tomorrow. With history as our guide, we can safely predict that the RNC ads will be scurrilous, probably feature a dog-whistle, have no factual basis and ultimately result in even more moderates and independents fleeing from McCain.
Notably, with the election only a week away, the RNC is paying for the ads on McCain’s behalf. I suspect McCain’s own money (if he has any left) is currently tied up in a last-ditch PA/FL fail mary (and accessorizing his running mate).