Economic meltdown may mean Dems' landslide

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Weeks of U.S. economic upheaval have some Democratic strategists saying they're seeing a potential landslide in the making for Sen. Barack Obama.

Polls indicate voters in states Republican John McCain once seemed poised to win -- Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida -- moved toward Obama recently, Politico reported. Conversely, McCain can't win the presidency if he loses any of the four states.

If Obama were to win the four states, strategists said, he likely would collect 350 electoral votes; 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency.

Democratic strategist Paul Maslin, an electoral map tracker, told the Washington political publication he thought Democrats would win by a couple percentage points a month ago.

"Now it's a whole different world," Maslin said. "The economy is way beyond 1992. In 1980, it was Iran hostage crisis and the economy. I've never seen an issue take this kind of prominence."

Doug Schoen, a one-time pollster for former President Bill Clinton, called the current situation an "economic tsunami" that changed the electoral map in a way the Illinois senator could not.

"Obama has not changed the map," Schoen said, explaining circumstances changed because, given the economic crisis, "McCain has become an almost unacceptable alternative" to President George Bush.