Obama, Romney Tied in Three Battleground States

HT: National Journal

With the summer campaign just starting to heat up, the latest poll numbers out of three battleground states are indicating a toss-up this November for their 21 combined electoral college votes, which could very well place one candidate over the top on election night.

In Colorado President Obama leads by just one point (45-44%); in Nevada by two (46-44%) and it's all tied in Iowa (44%) with little more then five months until election day, according to the latest NBC News/Marist numbers released earlier this morning.

These numbers, although very early in the cycle and likely to change as events unfold, reveal the incumbents inherent weakness maintaining states he won convincingly in 2008, and how hard his reelection battle will be because the challenger has five months to present himself through commercials, debates, speeches, and even who he picks as his Vice-Presidential candidate to make the case that we need someone fresh.

Especially in Nevada, where unemployment is still above 9% and local business owners remember the man 'in charge' who infamously told Americans not to vacation in Las Vegas, which depends on tourism from all across the county, hell the world, to stay afloat and prosper. Not to mention, Mormon voters hold a sizable share of the vote and will be out in force.

But regardless of which state we specifically discuss, President Obama is still underwater on the economy, his overall approval rating and thus far electoral performance against a man who won his party's nomination with a weak plurality.

We still have a long way to go, but the good news - for Mitt Romney at least - is that he has nowhere but up to go in the coming months and that he largely controls his own destiny at this moment, which he should take full advantage of.

What say you?