WASHINGTON — With the race for Ohio up for grabs — Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain 48-42 in the newest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, June 18 — we asked political analysts and pollsters for the keys to victory in November. Here are five keys for each candidate.

Obama must:

• Connect with voters on the economy. To do so, he has to do more than connect Republican policies with the nation's troubled economy. He has to show voters he cares rather than "giving an Econ 355 graduate lecture on trade and the economy," said Stu Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report. "He needs to be more personal, and use real people as examples to demonstrate that he feels their pain."

• Ease voters' fears about his national security expertise. Obama, a freshman senator with three years of experience in office, has an uphill climb to convince voters he has the national security chops of McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war from a military family. "Obama's experience on these matters is important," Rothenberg said.

• Win those treasured middle-of-the-road voters. "This whole election is about swing voters," Rothenberg said. Whoever wins them, he said, will win the election.

• Ease voters' concerns about the personal stuff — and his judgment. His campaign has already started a "Fight the Smears" Web site to help deal with rumors about his religion — he's Christian, not Muslim. Still, he has to do more, said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report. "He needs to establish a comfort level with voters," she said. "Not only do they have to be comfortable with his positions on the issues, but they need to be comfortable with him and his judgment."

• Secure the Hillary Clinton vote. Duffy said that McCain has just about wrapped up securing the conservative base that he needs to win the election. But the Democratic primary, she said, is still raw. "Obama has a little more work to do," she said.

McCain must:

• Deliver his message about the economy in a way that doesn't scare voters. When McCain visited Warren, Mich., during the primary campaign, he gave manufacturing workers a dose of straight talk about the economy. The message didn't fare well: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a native son of the state, won the election. Rothenberg said McCain has to deliver his free-trade message in a way that won't alienate those working-class voters who blame Bush administration policies for their job loss, and indeed, convince them that he has the keys to creating jobs.

• Hope the economy gets better. "McCain has President Bush on one shoulder and the economy on the other, and it's weighing him down in all of the competitive states," said Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. Without the economy taking a turn for the better, Sabato said it'll be hard for McCain to win. "I don't see how he wins if the economy stays anywhere near this bad," he said.

• Convince voters he's not Bush redux. McCain "needs to make voters see that this would not be Bush 3," Duffy said. "That he does represent change in some way."

• Ease concerns about his age. This is where the vice-presidential pick comes in handy, Rothenberg said. While age isn't usually a huge issue, McCain's age — he's 71 — may affect voters' comfort level with him.

• Win independent voters. Obama and McCain both appeal to independents. "That's where you'll see them both do a lot of work," Duffy said.