This race one of most exciting ever. Remember Clinton-Dole in '96? Didn't think so. And so many more will vote now. -- 3 more battleground states?

Instead of shrinking, the number of battleground states appears to be growing as Nov. 2 nears. A 10-27-04 Washington Post is entitled:

3 States May Be Back on the Table -- Close Race Forces Parties to Reassess 11th-Hour Ad Buys

Excerpts:

The electoral map unexpectedly -- and perhaps temporarily -- expanded yesterday [Tuesday], with Democrats suddenly playing defense in their traditional stronghold of Hawaii and some party strategists eyeing two other states that Sen. John F. Kerry had all but written off, West Virginia and Arkansas.

Strategists in both parties said they are confident that Hawaii would remain in Democratic hands on Election Day, and most predicted that Arkansas and West Virginia would stay in Republican hands. But the flurry of interest in these states in the campaign's final week underscored not only how close the race between Kerry and President Bush remains but also the combatants' desire to test every opportunity and protect against every contingency.

Former president Bill Clinton, according to party strategists, has implored the Kerry campaign for weeks not to give up on Arkansas, a state Gore narrowly lost, and plans to campaign there Sunday.

[A DNC official said last night] that, given how hard it is to buy advertising time in Florida or Ohio now, spending a little money in a state such as West Virginia is attractive.

Bush strategists said earlier they were surprised when Kerry seemed to give up on West Virginia, but one Bush adviser said in an e-mail that regardless of what the Democrats and their allies do in the final week, "they can't win Arkansas and West Virginia."