G. Frink's

The rumble of grinding electoral rock grew a decibel louder today as presidential electoral forecasts washed North Carolina with pale blue.

CNN headlined the Democratic/Republican ground war, Thursday's CBS/NYTimes Poll showed Obama with a double-digit national lead and statistical analyst Nate Silver wrote of McCain on life support.

Most important for those of us who suspect we hear the grind of electoral tectonic places shifting, the CBS/NYTimes Poll found that Obama is gaining support from those who were once a part of the solid core of Republican presidential majorities:

Underscoring his increasing strength in the final phase of the campaign, Mr. Obama led Mr. McCain among groups that voted for President Bush four years ago: those with incomes greater than $50,000 a year; married women; suburbanites and white Catholics. He is also competitive among white men, a group that has not voted for a Democrat over a Republican since 1972, when pollsters began surveying people after they voted.

Such shifts are driving the battleground states into the Obama column. Obama leads McCain 65% to 43% among likely voters in sixteen battleground states identified by the ABC News/Washington Post poll, states Bush won in 2000 and 2004,

Indeed, Obama's current 11 point advantage in the 16 battleground states is larger than the margins by which they ultimately were won in any of the last four elections -- Bush by 5 points in 2004, Bush by 4 in 2000, Clinton by 6 in 1996 and Clinton by 2 in 1992.

The rumble seems louder, closer to home. In the eight tossup states identified by ABC/Washington Post (Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia), Obama has a 52-45 percent lead. And the rumble grows still a bit louder when you look at the U.S. Senate race, where Democrat Kay Hagan is projected to unseat Republican Liddy Dole.

That race came to life for the Democrats because North Carolinians saw that Dole was busy elsewhere, and not so busy taking care of their interests.

Economic disarray has told North Carolinians that Republican ascendancy in the White House is not serving their interests either, and as they become more comfortable with Obama, the race shifts a rumbling micron at a time in his direction.