Insiders see Obama’s flop as turbulence, unsettling but hardly fatal, and say their internal polling shows erosion but not anything approaching collapse.
Translation: Romney undeniably improved his position, permanently (or as permanently as anything else is in this business). And if the Democrats’ internal polling was assuming as much of an electorate like 2008’s as a lot of the external polling was (and is), well…
That said: Playing with the RCP electoral calculator earlier today, I can see why Nate Silver’s model may not be as ridiculous as people made it out to be as the polls started shifting. Romney’s path to victory includes pulling out a rust belt state. Period. Several are in play of course, but I can’t easily put them in the Romney column, as I have already with “swing states” with VA, FL, and NC. I guess prior to actually trying it, I’d thought those three were enough. Nope. Ohio looks like ground zero, and Obama is still ahead there.