Obama campaign pretends they can win without Florida and Ohio

See? This is the scary part. Barack Obama is once again unable to seal the deal. This time, it's in a really big way. And Democratic leadership knew about it even as they turned the other way and handed him the nomination. It's as if they don't want a Democrat to be president. There continues to be no indication that Obama can win three all-important battleground states in November so his people are publicly saying they can win the general election without the benefit of Florida and Ohio. It's bullshit.

Democrats have long acknowledged it's nearly impossible to win the presidency without carrying Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Looking toward November, none of those states is in Obama's column. All three are "toss-up" states, meaning they aren't exactly in John McCain's column either. But based on the demographics and the results of the past couple elections, it's hard to even wish Florida might go to anyone other than McCain. The vast majority of Pennsylvania is made up of red-necks (the "bitter," gun-toting ones you may have heard about). Fortunately, they are bordered to the west by Pittsburgh and to the east by Philadelphia. These two cities often outweigh the rest of the commonwealth and ensure a nice blue hue on political maps. But that's never seemed more like a long-shot than it does now: Pennsylvania loved Hillary Clinton and really disliked some of the things Barack Obama said in the lead-up to the primary. Ohio, by the way, is anyone's guess.

Obama's campaign is slicing up the map into all these hypotheticals; talking about how they might win Virginia, Georgia, and a bunch of Rocky Mountain states and how that could be enough to get them by without benefit of Florida and Ohio. You might remember Ohio giving George Bush the election in 2004. Even more vividly, you may remember an extremely close vote and a stopped recount in Florida which began the destruction of this once-fine country by handing Bush the election four years before that.

Obama's campaign manager made a private pitch last week to donors and former Clinton supporters during which he went over "several alternatives" to reaching the magic number of 270 (the number of electoral votes needed to win the White House). I wasn't there so I can't say whether he also indicated it might be possible to win the election the way Democrats have in the past--by winning the important battleground states. But it's worrisome that he had to offer "several alternatives" to it.

My plea to the Obama folks: Campaigning "around" these three states is not going to work. Let's not pretend Florida and Ohio's combined 47 electoral votes aren't important. Considering Obama stands a good chance of losing Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio have actually never been more important. You fought for this nomination, knowing full-well you were the weaker candidate. To beat John McCain, you have to work harder than Hillary Clinton would have. Now is not the time for excuses, wishful thinking, and fuzzy math that somehow, hopefully equals 270. Get out there and do the work.