* MSNBC First Read: follow the schedules not the polls

• NBC/WSJ co-pollster Peter Hart (D) sends along this observation: “Forget the polls, just look at what the candidates are doing and where they are spending money.”
• At this time in 2004, he notes, Kerry-Edwards were campaigning in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Florida. In 2000, Gore-Lieberman were in the states of Missouri and Ohio, as well as in Florida.
• But in 2008, Obama and Biden 
  • AREN’T campaigning in Pennsylvania, Minnesota or Wisconsin.
  • Instead, they’re in Nevada, Colorado, Indiana, as well as the perennials of Ohio and Florida. “You do not have to read poll numbers — just look at their travel schedule,” Hart tells First Read.
  • And as we learned yesterday, the Obama campaign is now spending money in Arizona, Georgia, and North Dakota.
• McCain’s Monday Schedule: in a memo released last night, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis noted where McCain and Palin will be spending their final day of campaigning. 
  • “Gov. Palin will hit Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska in the final day of campaigning, 
  • while Sen. McCain will travel from Tampa, Florida, to Virginia, then Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada and finish the night in Prescott, Arizona.