Sources say Obama aides expect landslide

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Campaigners for Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama privately believe he will win by a landslide, sources say.

Citing unnamed sources, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday senior aides to Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, are convinced by private polling data, as well as an unshakable faith in the strength of their grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts in key swing states, that he will prevail over his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Obama himself also shares the conviction, the newspaper said, attributing his apparent calm to his belief that his strength among new voters in key states has been underestimated both by the media and the Republican Party.

Although he has taken much criticism from some Democrats that he hasn't done enough to woo blue-collar supporters of former primary campaign foe Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., his top aides are reportedly convinced Obama has a strong chance of winning nine states that voted for President George Bush in 2000.

They include such stalwart Republican states as North Carolina, Virginia and even Indiana, which have not voted for a presidential Democrat since the 1960s, the Telegraph said.