Explaining McCain's Optimism

Top of the Ticket:

A campaign official, speaking on background, later explained the internal polling numbers that McCain’s campaign has collected. Their data show McCain down only 4 percentage points nationally –- a sharp improvement from a week ago -- and closing fast. They also show him down only 3 percentage points in Virginia, and up 1 in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and Missouri.

The Arizona Republican needs to capture all five states. Assuming they lose in Pennsylvania, which the campaign believes is probably out of reach now, McCain needs to pull 10 more electoral votes out of some combination of Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico or Iowa -– all states where even the internal numbers look bleak.

“Check with me Wednesday,” the official added. “If we’re still within the margin of error, we’re going to win.”