Poll: Romney Near Landslide In Rural Swing Counties...

◼ The random cellphone and land line poll of 600 likely rural voters in nine battleground states Oct. 9-11 has Romney at 59 percent among the survey's respondents. Obama's support is now down to 37 percent among rural battleground voters, a plunge of 10 points from the actual rural vote in those states four years ago. - NPR

"Mitt Romney really needs to be at 60 percent or above in [rural] areas to offset some of those [urban and suburban] margins," Judy adds. The new survey shows "he has surged into a huge lead, and I think it is fair to say that his increased lead among rural voters is what is helping him in these swing states overall."

The nine battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin have a collective rural population of 13.6 million, according to the Census Bureau.

"It's a boon to Romney," says pollster Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, the Democratic partner in the survey. "It will help him ... because, of course, he will lose urban areas by a similar margin. And the suburban areas are still pretty competitive."

◼ IN PLAY: Romney draws to within 4 in PA - quinnipiac.edu
◼ GALLUP: WOMEN TURNING AWAY - From Obama - USA Today