Strategy for the final 18 days: Obama expanding into more red states. McCain's possible states are "dwindling"'

Today, the New York Times takes a look at the final campaign strategies for the presidential candidates. Obama is expanding the map. John McCain is scrambling to find states where he can win. In plain terms, Obama is on the offense. McCain is playing defense in some states where Republicans haven't lost in decades:

Confronting an increasingly bleak electoral map, top aides to Senator John McCain said Thursday that they were searching for a “narrow-victory scenario” and would focus in the final weeks on a dwindling number of states, using mailings, telephone calls and television advertisements to try to tear away support from Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama’s advisers said they would use the remaining 19 days of the campaign to focus mainly on capturing states that President Bush won in 2004; he is going to Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia, over the next three days and spending two days in Florida next week.

In a sign of the differing fortunes of the candidates, advisers to Mr. Obama said he was escalating his effort in West Virginia, which Mr. Bush won by 13 points in 2004, with a surge in advertising spending and a campaign swing there in the coming days by Mr. Obama or his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.

“West Virginia is real,” said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe. “We have been watching it for a long time.”

By contrast, Mr. McCain is spending the next three days campaigning in states that Mr. Bush won in 2004 and that earlier this year Republicans had considered relatively safe: he will visit Florida on Friday, followed by North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio. Republicans said their hopes of capturing any state the Democrats won in 2004 appeared to be dwindling, though they said they held out hope for Pennsylvania, where Mr. McCain campaigned on Thursday but where he has recently slipped far behind Mr. Obama in some polls.

"West Virginia is real." Wow.

I have to say, I like playing offense a lot better. The McCain campaign is determined to spend money and campaign in Pennsylvania. That's good for us. Obama is up in PA by almost 15 points.

Keep an eye out for more Republicans jumping off the sinking McCain ship.