McCain Closes Gap in Battleground States, Eyes Running Mate Pick

July 25, 2008— -- While Sen. Barack Obama was being feted in Kabul, Baghdad, Amman and Berlin this week, Sen. John McCain was picking up support in places like Minnesota, Colorado and Michigan.

Obama's tour of the Mideast and Europe has dominated the headlines, and his high-power schedule seemed to dwarf McCain's effort at publicity each day. As Obama spoke before 200,000 cheering Germans in Berlin, the Arizona Republican stumped in the Schmitz Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

The publicity mismatch continues on the final day of Obama's whirlwind tour as the Democratic candidate meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. McCain, meanwhile, will sit down with the Dalai Lama in Aspen, Colorado.

Despite being treated like a head of state elsewhere, Obama has not yet been able to eliminate doubts among U.S. voters in key battleground states that may decide the election.

Four Quinnipiac/Wall Street Journal/Washington Post.com battleground state polls released this week found that Obama's 17-point lead over McCain in the swing state of Minnesota has been cut to two points.

In a June poll, McCain trailed Obama by five points in Colorado, the state where the Democrats will hold their nominating convention next month. But Quinnipiac's latest survey indicates that McCain has pulled ahead by two points.

McCain has also nibbled Obama's lead in Michigan from six points to four. But Obama continues to hold a commanding 50-39 lead in Wisconsin.

ABC News' senior Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos says McCain's gains in Michigan are significant.

"You have this disconnect between what we see overseas and the fact that some polls are softening at home in some key states," he said.

"Michigan is key to his electoral strategy. If he can steal that state from the Democrats, he's got a great chance of winning," Stephanopoulos told GMA.

The effects of Obama's weeklong world tour, like Thursday's remarkable turnout in Berlin, has yet to be calculated among American voters. It was intended to bolster Obama's standing among voters as a potential world leader, and Obama did not make any gaffes that could have hurt him.

"The trip on its own terms was a clean success," ABC News' senior Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos told "Good Morning America" on Friday.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told ABCNews.com that Obama's esteem overseas could hurt him at home.

"Any time a candidate from any country is super-popular abroad, he or she has a problem," O'Hanlon said.