Invasion of the Zombies on their way to the voting booth? Mitt Romney campaign political director Rich Beeson dismissed yesterday dismissed recent polls showing every single battleground state slipping away from Mitt Romney.

“The public polls are what they are. I feel confident about where we are. At the end of the day, Ohio is going to come down to the wire.”

Come down to the wire? The latest swing state polls from Quinnipiac University, CBS News and the New York Times show Obama holding leads of 10 points in Ohio, 9 points in Florida and 12 points in Pennsylvania.  In all three states, 51 percent of voters prefer Obama over Romney to preside over the national economy — a policy area over which the president has seized the upper-hand in the last month. About 60 percent of voters in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania say Obama understands and cares about their problems, while similarly large majorities say Romney does not.Obama’s consistent advantage among women voters has spanned virtually the entire campaign, but the gender gap has swollen considerably in the three states. The president holds commanding leads among women voters in Ohio (25 points), Florida (19 points) and Pennsylvania (21 points).

Mitt Romney campaign political director Rich Beeson  claimed the competitiveness of the race in states like Wisconsin and Iowa suggest a close national contest. “This is a wide open race” he claimed.

Meanwhile, back in the land of reality, last week’s NBC/Marist poll has the President leading Romney 50-42% in Iowa. The same poll has Obama leading Romney 50-45% in Wisconsin; PPP has it 52-45%. Does Mr. Beeson see dead people planning on coming back from the grave and into a voting booth? Or is their internal polling done by the same make believe NFL referees that gave Seattle a winning touchdown over Green Bay? Langer Research Associates poll for ABC News & Washington Post 9/19-23:

Overall, do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the way Barack Obama is running his presidential campaign?
Favorable: 53
Unfavorable: 45

…the way Mitt Romney is running his presidential campaign?
Favorable: 36
Unfavorable: 61

  …Romney’s recent comments about people who don’t pay income taxes?
Favorable: 33
Unfavorable: 54

Yes, election day is still 6 weeks away and anything can happen. Well, sorta. Except for that little thing called early voting. Early voting kicks off tomorrow in  Iowa, and with more swing states following close behind, including Ohio next Tuesday, George Mason University professor Michael McDonald, who researches early voting behavior, forecasts that 35% of the vote will be cast before Election Day. That’s nationwide; in many states it’s much higher. In the swing state of Colorado, 78% of all votes in 2008 were cast prior to election day; this year it;’s predicted to be 85%. Here in Arizona, where we start getting early mail-in ballots 2 weeks from tomorrow, it’s predicted over 65% of all ballots will be cast prior to election day.

So, desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Republicans are getting desperate. In the Massachusetts Senate race, GOP darling Scott Brown decided to make his closing argument challenging Democrat Elizabeth Warren’s claim of Native American ancestry because  . . . she looks white to him. At a campaign rally yesterday Warren supporters were taunted with Indian war whoops and tomahawk chops. Among those doing the taunting were Brown’s deputy Chief of Staff Greg Casey and Constituent Service Counsel Jack Richard. Those guys’ salaries are paid by taxpayers, and they belittle Native Americans? Scott Brown, you deserve to loose. And Missouri GOP Senate candidate Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin? After he made those remarks Republican Party leaders demanded his resignation, calling his remarks “disgraceful”. Yesterday those same party leaders were saying “Todd Akin is a principled conservative who is committed to winning and fighting for freedom in the U.S. Senate”. Why the sudden about face? Yesterday was the absolute deadline for Akin to drop out of the race and have his name removed from the ballot, and their fading hopes of gaining control of the Senate is more important to them than principle. No rape is legitimate, and no, women who are rape victims have no magic defense from getting pregnant. Mr. Akin, you deserve to lose.  And here in Arizona, Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona released a new ad pointing out a series of votes Jeff Flake cast on veterans’ issues, including cuts to services and his opposition to a bonus for Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. Jeff Flake, you deserve to lose.

The Mecklenburg County VA Republican Party’s Facebook page:

Nice. You guys all deserve to lose. Big time.