Karl Rove's Electoral Map: If Election Were Held Today, Obama Would Win

Mitt Romney has just clinched the Republican nomination, and according to GOP strategist Karl Rove, he has a lot of catching up to do. In fact, according to Rove, if the election were held today, Obama could destroy Romney by as many as 100 votes:

Rove's map shows that for Romney, even in the event that he wins all of the as-yet undecided 82 electoral votes, he would still have to flip a state that leans toward Obama in order to win - the most likely prospects being Pennsylvania, Ohio or Michigan.

Fortunately for Romney, he has at least one home court advantages in all of those states - all of them have Republican Governors. Unfortunately for Romney, Obama also has a home court advantages in those states - all of them have organized labor as a strong presence. Moreover, Romney's advantage is blunted by a serious problem - all of the Republican Governors in those states (John Kasich, Rick Snyder and Tom Corbett) have low approval ratings. Granted, this doesn't necessarily make his victory impossible - institutional power is institutional power, no matter how unpopular it is - but it does mean that he won't necessarily be able to rely on endorsements to make his case where the Governors are concerned.

With that said, Romney has a second home court advantage in Ohio and Pennsylvania - despite their unpopular Republican Governors, each of them have popular Republican Senators. And it just so happens that one of those Senators has been often floated as on the short list for Romney's Vice Presidential pick - Ohio Senator Rob Portman.

H/T: Business Insider