With Arizona Senator John McCain having wrapped up the Republican nomination, there is buzz coming out of his campaign that they intend to put Connecticut in play this fall.  So said McCain adviser Steve Schmidt recently as noted by the NY Times blog:  “He added that he thinks Mr. McCain could expand the map of states that Republicans can win and that he would be competitive in Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine”.

Can Senator McCain be competitive here?  Quinnipiac has not done any polling recently in Connecticut but in comparable New Jersey (comparable only for the sake of the poll, never as a state), the QU folks found that McCain showed signs of promise. 

Sen. Clinton beats McCain 47 - 41 percent, taking 80 percent of the Democratic vote and 52 percent of the women, while splitting independents. Obama wins 46 - 39 percent, bolstered by a 47 - 38 percent edge among independent voters, according to the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll.

With the dedicated effort of a national campaign, John McCain clearly has the ability to fundamentally change the playing field in 2008.  Using the nifty maps at 270towin.com, there are several scenarios that could play out for McCain, but winning even a few of those states could prove decisive against Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama this November. 

The “old maps” from 2000 and 2004 seem destined for the annals of history anyway, as changing demographics in Virginia, Nevada, and New Mexico appear ready to realign their political landscape.  A strong McCain effort could indeed redraw these maps - and bring a lot more Republican “red” to traditionally Democrat strongholds this November.