Could Barack Obama Win Georgia? Georgia Polling Indicates Obama, John McCain in Dead Heat

Libertarian Candidate Bob Barr May Prove Spoiler in Presidential Race

The John McCain campaign is probably already sick of hearing "Yes, We Can." They will no doubt be even more nauseous if those chants turn into "Yes, We Did." A case in point: the state of Georgia, which is rated "Safely Republican" by Rasmussen and has not voted for a Democrat in a general election since 1992 when Bill Clinton narrowly defeated George H. W. Bush to carry the state, may actually be edging toward the bluer side of the political spectrum. A recent poll conducted by an Atlanta-based polling organization, Insider Advantage, has the presidential race in Georgia at a dead heat.

Conducted on June 18, the Insider Advantage poll shows Senator John McCain with a one point advantage over Senator Barack Obama, 44% to 43%. The significance of this poll rests in the remaining 13% of the poll numbers. In all other polls, according to RealClearPolitics.com, McCain leads by double digits in the conservative state, but add in native son Bob Barr, who has been nominated as the Libertarian candidate for president, and you have a virtual tie. Bob Barr, a popular former Republican Georgia congressman, polls at 6%, leaving 7% undecided. Still, that 6% eats away at the McCain lead and could prove to be John McCain's undoing in Georgia in the general election, siphoning off just enough disaffected Republican voters from McCain for him to lose Georgia and its 15 electoral college votes.

Rasmussen polls showed John McCain with a ten-point lead on June 10 (51% to 41%), a reduced lead compared to the 14-point margin he enjoyed a month before (53% to 39%).

And that isn't all the bad news for the McCain campaign. It just might get worse.