Both sides claimed victory in Thursday's much-anticipated vice presidential debate, but on Friday the contours of the presidential contest remained much as they have been for weeks: Barack Obama holding a narrow advantage even as fewer voters are left to convince.
State polls showed Obama's support edging upward as previously undecided voters cast their lot. The result is that the Republican campaign has a much smaller pool from which to win support.
Recent polls by CNN-Time magazine in Nevada and Colorado, for example, showed the percentage of undecided voters at 2%, a third of what it had been weeks earlier. In both states, Obama held a four-point edge.
In the states where the next president will probably be decided, backers of Republican nominee John McCain described themselves as still confident but concerned about the Democratic ticket's current control of the race.
"McCain is letting Obama dictate the discussion," said Gregory Amend, the owner of an Ohio-based manufacturing firm and a McCain donor. "He needs to dictate the discussion."
In Missouri, which has voted with the winning presidential candidate every time but once since 1904, the race has narrowed to a dead heat.
"Ten days ago, you thought 'Maybe this year it won't be a dogfight in Missouri,' " said St. Louis attorney and Republican activist Ed Martin. "We are in for a dogfight."
Martin said Republicans "breathed a sigh of relief" that Sarah Palin survived the vice presidential debate, but he would not go so far as to suggest that meant a resurgence for McCain. "It's too early to say they've got their groove back," he said.
In Florida, the McCain campaign was diverting more money than once planned into advertising in the state's pricey media markets to offset polls showing upward movement by Obama. "The hope was you could lock Florida and put it away a month and a half ago," said Brian Ballard, a leading McCain fundraiser in the state.
The vice presidential debate ended with no major gaffes on either side -- and with instant polls of voters giving the edge to Democrat Joe Biden, the Delaware senator -- but the conclusion of another potential campaign-shifting event was good and bad news for McCain.
The performance by the Alaska governor did serve to allay concerns about her, even among conservatives, after rocky interviews in recent weeks.
