Poll: McCain gains on Obama in Minn.
by The Associated Press

ST. PAUL -- Republican John McCain has erased a once-commanding lead by Democrat Barack Obama in Minnesota in an independent poll of presidential preferences. 

The poll of likely Minnesota voters conducted by Quinnipiac University has Obama up 46 to 44, within the survey's margin of sampling error.

Last month, the same pollsters put Obama 17-percentage points ahead of McCain.

Meanwhile, the same poll of 1,261 voters gives Republican incumbent Norm Coleman a 15-point lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken in the state's U.S. Senate contest. 

The poll was commissioned by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.com. Similar polls were released for Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin, which are considered electoral battlegrounds. 

The poll was conducted between last Monday and this Tuesday, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. 

Minnesota has 10 electoral votes at stake.