John McCain might just have to work a little hard to secure the electoral votes of his home state of Arizona, a new poll from Southwestern firm Behavior Research Center (no link) finds.

McCain (R) 50%, Obama (D) 39%
McCain (R) 51%, Clinton (D) 36%.

Sample size: 630 likely voters, weighted for age, sex, race and party identification.
Margin of error: ±4%.

While this is a double-digit lead, it is still uncomfortably close for a home-state candidate -- indeed, an incumbent Senator seeking re-election with those numbers would be considered a possible target.

Even if McCain is still favored to win Arizona, any effort he has to put in to lock it down is time and energy that could have spent elsewhere, and it also means down-ticket Dems will need less ticket-splitters to win their races.