Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday predicted a decisive Electoral College victory for the Democratic presidential ticket, saying that the president's midwestern "firewall" will hold.
"I think that we're going to win. I don't think it's going to be close in the Electoral College," said the vice president in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews after a rally outside Toledo.
"I think the firewall here of Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa -- I think it's going to hold firm," he said.
Biden's certainty didn't extend to the two major battlegrounds of Virginia and florida, which public polling have shown to be trending slightly in the Republicans' favor. He told Matthews that Democrats have an "even chance" in those states after predicting wins in Ohio, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Nevada and Iowa.
But even without the combined 42 electoral votes of the two Southern swing states, the Obama-Biden ticket could still win a decisive Electoral College victory if Democrats hold midwestern and western states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Colorado.
Biden was also upbeat about the possibilities for compromise in Congress after the election, despite his frequent lambasting of the Tea Party's influence in the United States House and Senate.
"We need leaders that can control their party," he said. "And I think you're going to see the fever break."