SCENARIOS - How Obama and McCain are faring in key states

(Reuters) - With just two weeks to go before the U.S. presidential election, the campaigns increasingly focus on battleground states where opinion polls show Democrat Barack Obama with a significant lead on Republican rival John McCain.

Obama leads in all of the states won by Democrat John Kerry in 2004 as well as in several states won by Republican President George W. Bush, recent polls show, maintaining a lead that he opened as the financial crisis moved to centre stage in the campaign.

Obama or McCain need 270 electoral votes to win the Electoral College and capture the White House in the November 4 election.

The president is determined not by the most votes nationally, but by a majority of the Electoral College, which has 538 members allotted to all 50 states and the District of Columbia in proportion to their representation in Congress.

Each state, except Maine and Nebraska, awards its votes to the candidate who gets the most votes in the state. Maine and Nebraska split them by congressional district.

Here are some battleground states with their electoral vote totals, 2004 results and recent details about the contests in each state.

* Colorado -- Nine electoral votes. Bush beat Kerry 52 percent to 47 percent in the state in 2004, but since then, Democrats have won the state Legislature and governor's office. A poll on Monday showed Obama up by 5 points.

* Florida -- 27 electoral votes. Bush beat Kerry 52 percent to 47 percent in a state known for the disputed result that decided the 2000 election. Florida is a classic swing state with a heavy concentration of older voters who could favour McCain. It also has many Jewish voters who are normally Democratic but have been wary of Obama. A Monday poll had McCain ahead by 1 point, although three other recent polls have all given Obama narrow lead in a state that McCain must win to take the presidency.

* Indiana -- 11 electoral votes. Bush beat Kerry by 20 points in 2004 in a state that last voted for a Democrat in 1964. But it borders Obama's native Illinois and he has poured resources into his Indiana campaign after finishing a strong second to Sen. Hillary Clinton in the May Democratic primary. Republicans have begun to advertise there, but polls have shown Obama closing the gap. The two most recent polls gave McCain leads of 5 and 7 points.