Georgia

The Libertarian’s percentage is greater than the difference between the Democrat and the Republican. We await the Obama campaign’s denunciation of Barr as a “spoiler” who’s taking away votes from their candidate. ~Robert Stacy McCain

This last line is meant as a joke, but it would certainly be very foolish for Obama’s campaign to draw attention to the Georgia numbers.  As I discuss in more detail in an upcoming column for the magazine, Barr’s polling in Georgia can be misleading for those who think that it holds out the chance of Obama winning the state.  Polls that include Barr see McCain’s numbers go down or it sees the undecided vote go up, but Obama’s numbers remain static in the 41-44% range.  If I am Obama trying to explain to my donors why the campaign is frittering away money on advertising in a state as unwinnable as Georgia (the impossibility of winning is driven home by McCain’s continued lead despite Barr’s inclusion in the poll), I would try to avoid mentioning specific numbers, much less cite polls that prove that the advertising is a waste of resources.