Palin Pick Takes Battle to New States

John McCain's camp is pushing some states back into play in the presidential election, convinced that Sarah Palin has re-energized GOP voters, the New York Times reports. McCain believes Palin improves his chances in Ohio and Pennsylvania, states Barack Obama is counting on. And with just 8 weeks left, both campaigns have defined an unusually wide swath of state-by-state battles.

Obama hopes to take all of John Kerry's 2004 states and win with a combination of key swing states, mostly west of the Mississippi—where Democrats are counting on Palin to offend the middle class. “She’ll be out there promoting John McCain’s economic message," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, "which is fine by us because it is so bad for middle-class voters.” (More McCain 2008 stories.)