Changes in CNN's electoral map

CNN likes to approach its electoral map, that magic map of John King's, with an especial caution. The map has shown the Kerry states, plus Iowa, plus New Mexico for Obama for quite a while now. But that wasn't enough to project Obama over the top. Then a little bit of time ago, they switched Virginia from toss-up to "leans Obama," and they projected Obama had a sufficient number of electoral votes to clinch the presidency were the election held at that time.

Today, they have changed three more states, and two of those changes have electoral implications:

1. They have moved Colorado into the "lean Obama" category, which gives Obama an additional 9 electoral votes according to their projections.

2. They have moved Indiana's 11 electoral votes out of the "lean McCain" category into the tossup category.

3. They have moved Washington State from "lean Obama" to "solid Obama."

As of Wednesday, October 29, CNN projects that, if the election were held today, Obama would receive 286 electoral votes, and McCain would receive 163. They rate 89 electoral votes, including Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, and Nevada, as toss-ups.