9 states where the race will be won

The presidential race has narrowed to a core of nine states, a collection of margin-of-error battlegrounds spread across nearly every region.
From New Hampshire in the Northeast to Nevada in the Rocky Mountain West, there is little disagreement between the two campaigns about the places where the election will be won and lost. Aside from those two swing states, there are seven others: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Some of them are familiar presidential battlegrounds, accustomed to playing a pivotal role every four years. Others are relative newcomers to the swing state roster. Every one of them was carried by President Barack Obama in 2008.

According to interviews with campaign officials and strategists, here’s the state of play and the forces at work in the nine states:
Colorado
With nine electoral votes, Colorado is the biggest prize in the Mountain West. That helps explains why, for the two weeks preceding the conventions, two of the nation’s top 5 media markets in terms of ad buys were Denver and Colorado Springs.
The Romney formula depends on turning out the GOP base, especially on the energy-oriented Western Slope and in El Paso County’s Colorado Springs, home to a politically active evangelical Christian community and a heavy military influence. This year, the expectation among Republicans is that Romney will also gain more traction in the Denver suburbs than John McCain.

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