It Begins?

We'll take that last one as a slap-down of Matthews and his antiquarian theories of The United States of White Working Males. Putz.

Political Wire reports.:

Quinnipiac: Obama Leads in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

The latest Quinnipiac Swing State polls shows Sen. Barack Obama -- with strong support among women, blacks and younger voters -- leading Sen. John McCain among likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania The results show:

In Florida, Obama edges McCain 47% to 43%

In Ohio, Obama tops McCain 48% to 42%

In Pennsylvania, Obama leads McCain 52% to 40% Notable: This is the first time

Obama has led in all three states. No one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the Electoral College.

Ambinder looks deeper:

The crosstabs: Obama's leading among white voters in PA, and his multi-ethnic coalition puts him over the top elsewhere. He leads by double digits about women everywhere; men are split evenly. The economy is the major issue in each state; President Bush's approval rating is highest (27%) in Florida.

Obama's getting the votes of 13% of '04 Bush voters in Florida and Ohio, and 19% in Pennsylvania. McCain gets the support of 24% of Clinton voters in PA and roughly equivalent percentages in OH and FL. So, from O's perspective, maybe it doesn't really matter that a quarter of Clinton Democrats turned Red.

Ohio
Obama leads 51 - 39 percent among Ohio women likely voters, while men go 46 percent for McCain and 45 percent for Obama. White voters also are narrowly divided with 47 percent for McCain and 44 percent for Obama, but Obama commands black voters 90 - 6 percent. The Democrat also leads 58 - 36 percent among voters 18 to 34 and 49 - 42 percent among voters 35 to 54, while McCain has the 47 - 43 percent edge among voters over 55.

Pennsylvania
Obama tops McCain 57 - 34 percent with women as men go 47 percent for McCain to 45 percent for Obama. Obama leads 61 - 33 percent among voters 18 to 34 years old, 51 - 41 percent among voters 35 to 54 and 48 - 43 percent with voters over 55. The Democrat inches ahead 47 - 44 percent among white voters and leads among black voters 95 - 1 percent.

Obama gets a 54 - 25 percent favorability, to 43 - 33 percent for McCain.