Sabato: Count Electoral Votes

Larry Sabato does political analysis from his base at the University of Virginia. Here he writes for The Wall Street Journal, on the topic of who wins what in the electoral college.

Sabato believes that, assuming no major changes in the economy, the election boils down to who wins seven states with a total of 85 electoral votes. Those states are Colorado (9), Florida (29), Iowa (6), Nevada (6), New Hampshire (4), Ohio (18), and Virginia (13).

These states are critical because they truly could go either way. Most of the remaining 43 are a lock for one party or the other. Ironically, if your state always votes for one party, that party takes it for granted and the other party ignores it.