Obama team unworried by polls

CHICAGO, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Recent public polls indicating a near dead-heat in the U.S. presidential race don't worry Barack Obama's top backers, they say.

They compare their candidate to Seabiscuit in a horse race that benefits the long runner over a short sprinter, reported the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday.

Key adviser David Axelrod's Chicago organization AKP&D puts their philosophy on their Web site.

"We win tough races ... campaigns no one thought could be won," it states. "The governor who came from 20 points behind (Iowa's Tom Vilsack). The incumbent mayor who came back from 20 points down in only 20 days" (Deedee Corradini in Salt Lake City). The congresswoman who won Dan Quayle's old seat in an upset (Indiana's Jill Long)."

Obama's team also argues that national polls mean nothing in a presidential election that will be decided state by state.

"The national numbers mean nothing," said John Kupper of AKP&D. "These are not national elections but state by state elections. We have vote goals. We know prior performance models."