Midwest May Decide Presidency MADISON, WI (Associated Press) -

A new poll of voters in the eight states home to Big Ten universities shows Barack Obama and John McCain in an extraordinarily tight race for the presidency.

The first Big Ten Battleground Poll shows the candidates are in a statistical tie in seven of the states - Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Obama leads
comfortably in his home state of Illinois.

The survey was based on interviews with 600 randomly selected registered voters in each of the states. It is co-directed by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientists Charles Franklin and Ken Goldstein with help from colleagues from participating universities.

Goldstein says the poll shows the next president is going to be whoever wins the Big Ten region.

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