Could Obama sweep the Midwest?

With 12 days left in the presidential campaign, a new poll shows Barack Obama with a double digit lead in eight midwestern states.

Obama leads in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, according to a new Big Ten Battleground Poll.

The poll, conducted from October 19-22, surveyed between 562 and 586 randomly selected registered voters in each of the states that are home to the 11 universities in the Big Ten conference. 

"In September, we saw virtually the entire Big Ten as a battleground," said University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin, co-developer of Pollster.com. "Now Obama is clearly winning the Big Ten battleground. The dominance of the economy as a top issue for voters is the overwhelming story," he said.

Not surprisingly, Obama holds a huge lead in his home state of Illinois, where McCain trails by a margin of nearly 2-1. But Obama also holds a 10 point lead (51-41) in Republican-leaning Indiana, which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964.

Obama leads McCain 52 to 39 percent in Iowa, 58 to 36 percent in Michigan, 57 to 38 percent in Minnesota, 53 to 41 percent in Ohio, 52 to 41 percent in Pennsylvania and 53 to 40 percent in Wisconsin.

"It appears Obama has and this race has popped nationally and here in the Big Ten," said Ken Goldstein, a UW-Madison political science professor who co-directed the survey.

Obama also leads by 5 points in the crucial Midwestern state of Missouri, according to a new Fox News poll that shows the Democrat with a 49 to 44 point lead in the bellwether "Show Me" state. Since 1904, Missouri has voted for the winner in every presidential election except one (in 1956 for Democrat Adlai Stevenson).