Talking Points Memo is reporting that the Romney campaign and Romney SuperPacs have pulled their spending from two key battleground states, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The Romney campaign and conservative groups like Crossroads GPS have pulled TV ads in Michigan, Romney’s home state, according to the Detroit News.
Nor are the campaign and super PACs running advertising in Pennsylvania, after unleashing a barrage there over the past five months.
Obama has a fairly significant lead in both states, although in Michigan, he’s barely outside the margin of error at about 3.5%.
Michigan is a swing state and Pennsylvania is a state that is considered to lean Democratic in this election. About two weeks ago, polls were showing that Romney was beginning to close in on many of the close states, including Pennsylvania. Other polls show Romney losing in all but one swing state, North Carolina, which is the home of this week’s Democratic National Convention.
Most interesting is that, according to this interactive map, Romney needs to win nearly every single swing state (if all the ‘leaning’ states vote as predicted) to win. If Obama wins Florida, he only needs to win one additional swing state. Even if Romney wins Florida, Obama only needs to win 3-4 swing states to secure reelection.
An electoral tie is a possibility, according to the map, meaning that neither candidate would earn the necessary 270 electoral votes. If that were to happen, the Republican House of Representatives would choose the President and the Senate would choose the Vice President.
It is possible that as the race goes on, Romney and the SuperPacs will reinvest in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Follow me on my new Facebook page or on Twitter, @wendygittleson
