Swing-State Sashay

— -- PITTSBURGH -- Rolling through Ohio, and now in Pennsylvania, I've got swing states on my mind -- and not only because of the acrobats who greeted us in Pittsburgh, in a literal circus-like atmosphere at the train station.

For better or worse, it's states like these -- and a small handful of others -- that will determine this election.

The old thinking has been that if you win two out of the three biggest battlegrounds -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida -- you become president. It worked for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and it very well could work again in 2008.