New York, Sept.30 (ANI): The latest FOX News/Rasmussen Reports indicate that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has increased his lead over Republican rival John McCain in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The candidates are within a single point of each other in three other battleground states -- Colorado, Florida and Ohio.

In Pennsylvania, Obama now leads by eight percentage points, 50 percent to 42 percent.

In Virginia, it's Obama 50 percent and McCain 47 percent.

In Colorado, it's Obama 49 percent and McCain 48 percent). In Florida, it's Obama 47 percent and McCain 47 percent and in Ohio; it's McCain 48 percent and Obama 47 percent.

National polls and other state polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports indicate Obama gained ground before last Friday night's debate, probably as a result of the economic turmoil that has dominated the news.  Since the debate, the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows little change in the national numbers.

A number of other themes emerge from the data that are worth noting:
-In all states, Obama gained ground among unaffiliated voters. While the sample sizes in each state are small and the shifts often modest, the consistency of the result is worth noting.

-Obama's favorable ratings are up slightly in all five states.

-Favorable ratings for McCain are up slightly in three states (Colorado, Florida and Pennsylvania) and down slightly in two (Ohio and Virginia).

-The number saying they would not be comfortable with Obama as president fell in all five states. In all five, the number expressing such discomfort is at the lowest level since tracking began on September 7.

- The number not comfortable with McCain as president increased by 3 percentage points in Florida, was unchanged in Virginia, and fell very slightly in the other states.

-The number of undecided voters increased by 2 percentage points in Florida and Ohio.

-The number supporting third party candidates increased from two percent to five percent in Pennsylvania.

-Neither candidate attracts more than 50 percent of the vote in any of the battleground states, although Obama is right at the 50percent mark in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

-When it comes to who voters would trust with the toughest decision of their life, Obama gained ground in three states and there was no net change in Colorado or Pennsylvania. However, Obama had already gained ground on this question a week ago in Pennsylvania

The increasing numbers of undecided and third party votes in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida suggest opportunities for both candidates in the coming week. Given the overall trends, these voters may be having doubts about McCain but are not yet ready to vote for Obama.

Both nationally, and in the battleground states, it will be important to see if Obama can move above the 50 percent level of support in the coming week.

While the Vice Presidential debate is the biggest scheduled event of the week, it is important to remember the economic news had a bigger impact last week than the Presidential debate.

Rasmussen Reports conducted five state telephone surveys in partnership with Fox News Channel on September 28, 2008. The surveys were conducted in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

A total of 500 Likely Voters were interviewed in each state using the Rasmussen Reports automated telephone survey methodology. Click here for more from Rasmussen.com

The margin of sampling error for the full sample in each state poll is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

Obama campaign believes he will win by a landslide
 
Washington, Sept.30 (ANI): Senior aides of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama believe he is on course for a landslide election victory over John McCain and will comfortably exceed most current predictions in the race for the White House.

According to The Telegraph, they are convinced that Obama has a strong chance of winning no fewer than nine states won by George W. Bush in the closely contested 2000 election.

Their optimism is based on information from private polling and on faith in the powerful political organisation he has built in the key swing states.

Insiders say that Obama's apparent calm through an unusually turbulent election season is because he believes that his strength among first time voters in several key states has been underestimated, both by the media and by the Republican Party.

Obama, however, has come under fire from within Democratic ranks over his message and his tactics. Critics say he has failed to connect with the blue-collar workers seen as crucial to winning the election, and too reluctant to make direct attacks on McCain.
 
David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, said last week that Obama had "a lot of opportunity" in states that Bush won four years ago.

But in private briefings in Washington, a member of Obama's inner circle of policy advisers went much further in spelling out why the campaign's working assumptions far exceed the expectations of independent observers.

"Public polling companies and the media have underestimated the scale of new Democratic voters registration in these states," the campaign official told a friend.

"We're much stronger on the ground in Virginia and North Carolina than people realise. If we get out the vote this may not be close at all."

To win the presidency, Obama must win 270 votes in the Electoral College, which awards votes to the winner of each state broadly in proportion to the size of the population.

Statewide surveys put the likely Electoral College result at a slender Obama win, 273-265.

But his campaign staff believes they have a good chance of securing between 330 and 340 votes, and could win up to 364 votes, a landslide on the scale of Bill Clinton's wins.
 
The senior Obama advisor said that the Democratic nominee is confident of winning all the states held by John Kerry, the Democratic candidate four years ago, a total of 252 votes.

But his team believes he can also bank victories in Iowa, where he first emerged as a force in the campaign in January, and New Mexico, where Kerry only lost by 20,000 votes in 2004. Those states would leave him just six votes short of outright victory.

Taking Colorado, as Obama's team is very confident of doing, would put him over the top. Even winning the smaller state of Nevada, with its five electoral votes, would be enough to guarantee a 269-269 tie with McCain.

If that happens, the US Constitution would hand the decision over to the Democrat dominated US House of Representatives, which would presumably come down in Obama's favour.
 
Most pollsters would regard those expectations as uncontroversial. But the Obama camp is also confident of winning Ohio and Virginia, which commentators believe are "toss up" states with the two candidates chances at 50/50.

Last week, Obama was advertising in Indiana, Florida and North Carolina, which many had supposed to be a waste of time and money.

A Washington official who has discussed the electoral mathematics with one of Mr Obama's senior advisers told The Sunday Telegraph that the campaign is spending money only in states that it believes can, and indeed ought to, be won. (ANI)