Cross-posted at fivethirtyeight.com, which is my new, semi-continually updated blog on polling and electoral math for the 2008 general election.
For at least eight years now, Democrats have told themselves that they couldn't win the White House without carrying at least two of of the three "Big Three" states: Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And how has that strategy fared? Needless to say, it hasn't fared all that well: Democrats carried Pennsylvania in both 2000 and 2004, but lost each of Ohio and Florida both times, and thereby lost the election.
One of the advantages of my simulation model is that we can do some scenario testing. And today, the scenario I want to test is pretty simple. How do the two Democrats fare -- Clinton and Obama -- in a world where they never carry any electors from Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania?
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