Obama on Defense, Seeks to Expand 2012 Map

Obama adds Georgia and Arizona to his 2012 wish list

President Obama knows he's on defense in several key states going into the 2012 election cycle. But while Team Obama concedes that the president's path to victory will be considerably narrower next year than in 2008, they do have their eyes on a few new prizes.

The Obama campaign acknowledges that Indiana and other Bush states are probably going to the Republican next year. But because of population shifts and other factors, Arizona and Georgia have popped up on the Obama target list. According to the Washington Post, Hispanic populations have increased dramatically in the two Republican-leaning states. Presuming that latino voters come home to the Democratic Party next year as expected, this could be a huge boon for the president. In Arizona, Obama also has the good fortune of not running against the state's native son this time around.

Obama still has plenty of routes to 270. Both parties have begun examining the 2012 landscape with optimism, though most pundits agree that the map looks much better to the GOP than it did four years ago.

Posted by Nick Stone on 12:23 AM. Filed under 2012, Nation, obama, POTUS . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0