Barack Obama has lost North Carolina and Florida.

His ground game is at near parity in early voting with the GOP, the GOP is more energized, and he is going to lose both.

But he will not stop spending money in those two states and redirect the resources to Ohio, which is now a must win state for him. He will not do it because he does not want news stories to come out in the last two weeks of the campaign that he’s closing up show in two battleground states.

That would convey weakness and demoralize the base.

But they are losing. And in fact, in North Carolina, they are winding down slowly and quietly knowing the GOP has matched their early voting operation and will get people to the polls.

The Obama camp does not want any news stories to come out. They know if they are too open about their plans the GOP will get very loud about the Obama team’s retreat across the map, and the media will be forced to cover the retreat to save face. So they will continue spending some resources in states they cannot win to avoid news stories they find more damaging.

In the meantime, Mitt Romney keeps creeping up with more momentum in Colorado, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio.

Time is running out. Barack Obama’s hubris prevents him from making critical, necessary decisions as the sand runs out of the hourglass.