Washington, Sept. 30 (ANI): President Barack Obama could replicate his break-out electoral college map from 2008 and win with nearly 350 electoral votes without a doubt, political scientists and Democratic strategists believe.
Democratic strategist Tad Devine said that Obama could win with an Electoral College blowout if Romney does not turn his campaign around in the first debate this Wednesday in Denver.
"He's in a position to get close to 350 electoral votes, without a doubt," Devine, who played key roles for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, said.
"The president and his campaign successfully identified states where they could beat Romney, set out to define Romney in those places and did so well through the course of the spring and summer," Politico quoted Devine, as saying.
Based on a recent spate of public polls, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is currently trailing by as much as 10 points in Ohio (18 electoral votes), 9 points in Florida (29) and 8 points in Virginia (13).
A loss of any of those three states, but especially Florida, would be a big blow and make his path to 270 electoral votes much narrower.
"It ain't pretty for Romney right now," Devine said, adding: "He's in a precarious position."
After the nail-biter elections of 2000 and 2004, and polls all year showing a close 2012 contest, there's now a plausible scenario in which the incumbent garners a healthy Electoral Vote majority.
"The bad news for Romney is his core states keep him under 200 electoral votes," Carleton College political science professor Steven Schier said.
"It may well be that the time and investment both in shoe-leather, get-out-the-vote efforts, in media, in candidate visits, in advertising that Obama invested this summer in the key states may produce a firewall for the Electoral College in November," Schier added.
In 2008, Obama carried nine states that George W. Bush won four years earlier. They are: Colorado (9), Florida (29), Indiana (11), Iowa (6), Nevada (6), New Mexico (5), North Carolina (15), Ohio (18) and Virginia (13). These are worth a total of 112 votes.
Ohio, Florida and Virginia amount to the lion's share of those votes at 58 and are a big part of Romney's current problem.
"I'm pretty confident if the election were held today, [Obama would] win everything but Indiana and North Carolina," Tom Jensen, a Democratic pollster who runs Public Policy Polling said, adding: "He's got a cushion in all of them." (ANI)