NOW WE KNOW THE ROMNEY PEOPLE ARE BLOWING SMOKE

Just saw this at CNN:

Restore Our Future, a super PAC backing Republican nominee Mitt Romney, is going up with $1.8 million worth of ads in Minnesota and New Mexico – states that have been considered safe bets for Democrats.

The super PAC announced Wednesday it would spend $1.1 million in Minnesota and $700,000 in New Mexico....

Both states have been thought to be in Obama's column, but a recent poll suggests a tightening race in the State of 10,000 Lakes....

Yeah, there have been a couple of tight polls in Minnesota -- but New Mexico? I looked at Real Clear Politics, TPM, and Pollster, and every poll taken from September 7 on has shown Obama with a minimum 7-point lead. Most show Obama with a double-digit lead.

Maybe this is an attempt to transmit cross-border ads into Arizona -- but that seems inefficient. Or maybe it's just the PAC trying to spend an excess of money.

But to me it suggests that Romney and his allies are attempting to generate a positive outcome just by claiming the possibility of a positive outcome. It's a belief in the confidence fairy. And it hints that other state moves by Team Romney are similarly based on smoke and mirrors.

As I said last week, Romney seems to believe that confidence alone can make things happen, in campaigns and elsewhere; see his team's efforts to will a "momentum" narrative into existence after the debates, and also see what he said in the "47%" video about what would happen to the economy and the financial markets if he wins:

We'll see capital come back and we'll see -- without actually doing anything -- we'll actually get a boost in the economy.

Can a candidate win swing states "without actually doing anything" like developing an actual lead in those states? Mitt and his allies sure want you to think so.