McCain competitive, analyst says

WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- National polls indicate likely Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is competitive with his likely Democratic challenger in the U.S. heartland.

State polls from Quinnipiac University and The Wall Street Journal indicate McCain, R-Ariz., is running head-to-head with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Minnesota, Michigan and Colorado, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday. Minnesota is the site of the Republican National Convention and led by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, said to be on McCain's list of possible running mates.

His competitive showing comes while U.S. President George Bush has a dismal approval rating and most U.S. respondants in several polls say the county is on the wrong track, the Chronicle said.

"Either John McCain is an overachiever or Barack Obama is an underachiever," said Bill Whalen, a Hoover Institution media fellow. "Either McCain rises above Republican misery -- or Obama's not fully caught the wave."

Whalen said McCain's push on energy and oil drilling, standing pat on the Iraq surge success and talking about economic issues may be paying off. An NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll conducted July 18-21 put Obama 6 percentage points ahead of McCain, the same gap as a Gallup Poll conducted during a similar time frame.