The map’s changing colors

We’ve got change in America, alright. Was it the one Obama supporters counted on?

Hardly. The dust has settled from the two conventions, notes Stumper, and more than the Fall color change across the country isn’t just on the trees.

Even if McCain has yet to flip a state, a closer look at the latest battleground polling reveals that the Arizonan’s gains have, in fact, trickled down. They’ve had two effects. First, a handful of red states that Obama once hoped to win now seem either out of reach or more favorable to McCain, whether temporarily or permanently. And second, McCain is suddenly within striking distance in a group of Blue States where Obama until recently enjoyed a comfortable lead. The result: a campaign that once boasted about redrawing the electoral map by targeting an unprecedented 18 battlegrounds has been forced to focus on a more familiar swath of states–and even play defense in places it had hoped to win easily. In the last week, the Red States have gotten redder–and the Blue States have gotten purpler.

This is one of those article for number crunchers and poll wonks. But it’s really interesting.

Democratic registrations and Chicago’s sophisticated field operation will surely help. But what the last week of polling has shown beyond any doubt is that McCain’s successful convention and shocking choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate have shifted the map ever so slightly to the right, transforming a landscape that favored Obama into a landscape that favors, well, no one.

But the leaves are still turning.