Republican leaders are not giving rebels an easy time on managed health care, fighting for any and every undecided vote.

And there is a large enough undecided vote to pull the election to either side.

To prevail, Washington must get five of the six undecided votes.

"In a close race and with about 20 percent of the vote still undecided, that approach might be the only way to change the dynamics."

Whether he could get that will depend upon how the undecided votes go on election day.

The undecided vote in the Post poll stood at 21 percent.

In a poll following the earthquake, the undecided vote rose to 47%.

Yet because of the large undecided vote it is too early to write off the two other major contenders.

Much of the undecided vote is in the large and increasingly powerful Asian community.

The question is whether the Democrats can find something in between that would swing undecided votes.