Watch for Obama in Omaha in fall campaign

And there may be a bit of bluff or decoy in the Obama/Omaha concept. Campaign strategists sometimes like their opponents to think that a state is competitive when it really is not.

Come October, it will become clearer, assuming Obama is the Democratic nominee and if TV viewers in Omaha begin seeing his ads.

Iowa, Nebaska's next-door neighbor, is certain to be a competitive state this fall. Bush won Iowa by only 10,000 votes, less than one percent, in 2004.

So an Omaha strategy for the Democrats has a certain logic. A TV ad on NBC's Omaha affiliate WOWT would reach about 97,000 households in western Iowa.

McCain competitive in Maine?
As for Maine, maverick third-party candidate Ross Perot came within four percentage points of carrying the state’s Second Congressional District and thus getting one electoral vote in 1992.

Is it feasible for McCain to try to get one of Maine's electoral votes?

Veteran Maine Republican campaign strategist Roy Lenardson said, “I don’t see how McCain could walk away from taking a second look” at the Second Congressional District, which is largely rural, less affluent, and more conservative than the state’s First District, which includes the city of Portland.

“It comes down what is the power of one? Is it worth spending $1 million for one electoral vote?” Lenardson asked.

He explained that biggest city in the Second District, Bangor, has a relatively inexpensive media market.

A television ad buy of “between $50,000 and $100,000 would get you up on the air for a week in a big way” in the Bangor media market, Lenardson said.

He added that McCain’s strong alliance with Maine’s two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, would help him in the state. Snowe was re-elected with 74 percent of the vote in 2006; Collins faces Democrat Tom Allen in her re-election bid this fall.

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

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