2012 Decoded

Patches of blue sky are breaking out for President Obama in the true blue states.

Three surveys out this week show Obama opening substantial leads over Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in several of the mega-states at the foundation of the "blue wall": the 18 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have voted Democratic in at least the past five consecutive presidential elections. This continues a largely overlooked pattern evident in polling in several other "blue wall" states since mid-October - and suggests that it may be more difficult for the GOP to vastly expand the Electoral College map than the weakness of Obama's national approval ratings might suggest.