After the press conference on Monday morning, I sat down to chat with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. We talked in some detail about Barack Obama's campaign, what Bredesen thinks Obama needs to do to appeal to working class voters in states like Tennessee, and what Bredesen thinks about how things will turn out in November. Here's a highlight regarding Bredesen's feelings on the latter:

RCP: So you see this being a close election in November?

BREDESEN: Yes.

RCP: Coming down to the same set of states we've been focused on in the past?

BREDESEN: You know, it depends on how he redraws the map. You could throw North Carolina and Virginia in there for him. I could be proven very, very wrong. I certainly know people who think he's either going to win 35 states or lose 35 states.

But, certainly, based on Tennessee as a good example of a swing state, I think it's going to be a close election. I've talked to friends of mine in California who can't even conceive of the possibility that John McCain would win and I just tell them, 'that's not the way it is in a lot of parts of the country.'

We can win, but it's got to be with an A campaign.

Read a transcript of the full interview here.