Todd: McCain is ‘conceding the popular vote’

Sunday morning, NBC’s Tom Brokaw talked with MSNBC political analyst Chuck Todd about how the polls are shaping up just several weeks prior to the election. Todd told Brokaw that at this point, McCain appears to be “conceding the popular vote” in order to pursue victory through the Electoral College, similar to how outgoing President George W. Bush came to power.

Todd, making the argument that older voters could be the crucial demographic in the election’s endgame, claimed there’s been some evidence that they are shifting toward Obama.

“That’s how this thing becomes, from a close Electoral College battle to a landslide,” he said.

“And by the way, one more point about our map, as we’re seeing this shift. It’s almost as if the McCain campaign is conceding the popular vote. We’re seeing a lot of tightening in some places that, while Obama won’t carry them, he’s not gonna lose by large margins.

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“That means the McCain path is solely now an Electoral College path. If he wins the Electoral College, it’s hard to see how he actually wins the popular vote.”

This video is from NBC’s Meet the Press, broadcast October 19, 2008.