Presidential race 2012-Obama leads

Here is a breakdown of the current electoral vote count for the 2012 presidential race according to the Cook Political Report.  Obama is projected to have 205 electoral votes (186 solid, 5 likely, 14 leaning.)  The Republican candidate is projected to have 191 electoral votes (159 solid, 22 likely, 10 leaning).  Obama needs to pick up 65 votes to reach the 270 needed for election.  The Republican challenger would need to pick up 79.  There are 10 toss up states with 142 electoral votes.  More than half of those votes are in four states: Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), and Michigan (16).   Right now Obama has a variety of ways of reaching the magical 270 votes to win by putting together a combination of a couple of the key toss up big states with several of the smaller.  The Republican candidate will need to carry most of the key big states to win.

Solid Dem (15 states)	Likely Dem (1 states)	Lean Dem (2 states)	Toss Up (10 states)	Lean Rep (1 states)	Likely Rep (2 states)	Solid Rep (20 states)
California (55) Connecticut (7) Delaware (3) Hawaii (4) Illinois (20) Maine (4) Maryland (10) Mass'setts (11) New Jersey (14) New York (29) Oregon (7) Rhode Island (4) Vermont (3) Washington (12) Dist. of Col. (3)	New Mexico (5)	Minnesota (10) New Hamp. (4)	Colorado (9) Florida (29) Iowa (6) Michigan (16) Nevada (6) North Car. (15) Ohio (18) Pennsylvania (20) Virginia (13) Wisconsin (10)	Missouri (10)	Arizona (11) Indiana (11)	Alabama (9) Alaska (3) Arkansas (6) Georgia (16) Idaho (4) Kansas (6) Kentucky (8) Louisiana (8) Miss'ppi (6) Montana (3) Nebraska (5) North Dak. (3) Oklahoma (7) South Car. (9) South Dak. (3) Tennessee (11) Texas (38) Utah (6) West Virg. (5) Wyoming (3)

Source: http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/president/ev_scorecard_2011-09-15_11-54-35.php