In advance of Barack Obama's visit to Cobb County today, Jim Wooten of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution throws down a blunt assessment of the Democratic nominee's prospects in Georgia:

The symbolic message here is that Georgia is in play.

Fat chance.

If Obama wins Georgia, he'll occupy the White House.

He won't, despite the surge in registration and the enthusiasm he engenders among Democrats. [snip]

Georgians are occasionally surprised by the leftward drift of politicians they elect, but they do not knowingly choose candidates with the ideological bent of Barack Obama.

So welcome to McEachern. Welcome to Cobb County.

Both will serve their purpose of providing a backdrop for a message.

It is for show, a symbolic incursion onto Republican turf, where he will be cheered wildly and long.

But that is all that will come of it.

He cannot win Georgia. Nohow, no way.

The Obama campaign would respond that the goal isn't necessarily to win Georgia, but to be competitive enough to force John McCain to spend valuable resources defending turf he normally shouldn't or wouldn't have to defend.

The current RCP Average in Georgia has McCain up 6.7%, a lead small enough to probably have gotten the McCain campaign's attention.