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<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p>

Once again, here's the electoral college prediction map from the Washington Post website that allows you to predict how things will unfold in November. The last time I used it I was very cautious and could see many ways McCain would win; this time I'm more optimistic. Here is the map as I see it; all comes down to 10 states (the 6 I have in gray, plus Minn, VA, NH & NM).

Recent polls have Obama up in New Hampshire and Virginia, while McCain is up 1 pt in Ohio. At that point, Obama is only 15 votes away from the presidency with 74 up for grabs. Obama can do very well in many of those places too, including Minnesota, Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado and Florida. In fact, all it would take would be for him to win Minnesota and New Mexico and he's President. Of course, winning Virginia will be easier said than done, but he could still be President by losing VA and winning Iowa and Colorado. Both will be close, but certainly within reach.

To sum it up, as polls stand now, Obama can lose Ohio and Florida and still be President under a number of scenarios. It's still early, anything can happen, but I'm optimistic.