Obama Ahead By 9 Points In Ohio

In HUGE news for Democrats everywhere, Obama leads John McCain by nearly 10 points in the latest Survey USA poll of Ohio. If we can lock down Ohio as well as Pennsylvania, where Obama was also favored in the latest Survey USA poll, and Virginia, we'll be in very good shape for the general.

The poll also tested various different Vice Presidential picks for both candidates and found that Obama would beat McCain in this state with almost any VP he would select. Only a Chuck Hagel / Mike Huckabee pairing and, bizarrely enough, an Ed Rendell / Mike Huckabee match up couldn't secure Obama the victory. What have these folks got against Ed Rendell?

Anyway, the poll has Obama ahead in every age group except the over 55s and winning a helathy 57% of those who identify as politically "moderate".

Here's what will possibly be the biggest headline of the piece - after all the hand wringing about whether he could win "hard working voters, white voters" in this crucial state, he is ahead among whites by 45 to 41.