John McCain spent all of Thursday rushing around the state of Ohio, and as his schedule emerged for Friday, it seems he's going to adopt the Buckeye State for another day.  In a sense, he's making his last stand.

Ohio has long been a bellwether state.  The last time Ohio did not vote for the winner of the Presidential race was 1960, when voters backed Richard Nixon.

Four years ago, it was the state that John Kerry thought he had a chance to upset President Bush, but the GOP won by about 150,000 votes, amid cries of vote fraud.

While there are a number of states where McCain is currently in trouble, losing Ohio just about drives a stake through him, like losing in Florida would, or Missouri.  Those three states were all won in 2000 and 2004 by the GOP.

The polls in recent weeks have not offered much in the way of hope for McCain.  Three different polls have Obama's lead down to four points now.  Whether that's a surge or a blip, who knows at this point in time.

One thing to me is clear about this last stand for McCain, a lot of it is based on the opening that Barack Obama gave the GOP with his exchange with Joe The Plumber.

The "spread the wealth" comment has generated a new level of focus in the McCain camp on economic issues that wasn't there a few weeks ago.  I'm not saying it's going to mean that he wins or anything, but I think it has helped the campaign.

The GOP likes to label Democrats as a bunch of big spending, big taxing liberals, so Joe The Plumber has only helped to reinvigorate that point.  And remember, Joe is from Toledo.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has been focusing on Pennsylvania, where McCain's chances definitely seem to be a longer shot than Ohio.

As for the Democratic team, Barack Obama goes back to where it all began early this year, as he holds a rally in Iowa and one in Indiana.

Iowa seems headed for the Democratic column this year.  Both times that John McCain ran for President, he ignored Iowa and has made little headway there, not helped by his opposition to help for ethanol producers.

Joe Biden today is in Ohio, but he starts the day in Delaware with a rally there.  Why?

Don't forget, Biden is running for re-election to the Senate as well.