Turning Red States Blue a Tall Order for Obama

Barack Obama's sweep of red state primaries has won converts to Obama's claim that he can redraw the political map in November and take states that Democrats have long written off as hopelessly red. Not so fast, warns the Washington Post—Dem primary voters do not reflect the general election demographic in such red zones as Kansas, Nebraska, and Idaho.

Obama may have an easier time wooing white voters in ethnically homogeneous states than in places with a mixed population, for example. "He can do it, but it's that shot from half-court," a political scientist said of Obama's chances in Mississippi. A Kansas Republican dismissed local interest in Obama as just curiosity "of a circus nature." (More Barack Obama stories.)