By: Erin Olson For the second day in a row, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today were the only newspaper sites to shift their electoral-college numbers in E&P's exclusive tracking of seven major newspaper Web sites with electoral-college maps.
Sen. John Kerry lost votes on both sites. President Bush's vote count remained steady at USA Today and increased at the L.A. Times.
Bush now has an average of 199 votes to Kerry's average 188 across the seven sites. At least 270 electoral votes are needed for election.
The Los Angeles Times pushed Michigan's 17 electoral votes from Kerry to the swing-state category. Adding insult to injury, the Times projected that Bush would pick up Nevada's five votes, giving him a 173-153 lead over Kerry. Remaining up for grabs according to the paper's interactive map: 212 votes from 20 states.
USA Today also dealt a blow to the Massachusetts senator when it shifted Minnesota -- a state with 10 electoral votes -- from its "likely Kerry" to its "closely contested" category. Bush now boasts a 221-186 lead at that site, with 131 votes undecided.
In fact, Kerry leads Bush at only two newspaper sites now: The New York Times (225-213) and The Philadelphia Inquirer (168-166).
The other three sites held steady in favoring Bush: The Boston Globe (192-188), the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale (222-217), and The Washington Post (208-179).
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