A new Washington Post poll published this morning finds that the presidential race in Minnesota stands at Obama with 47 percent and McCain with 45.

The poll also asked about the Minnesota Senate race and found Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leading Democrat Al Franken by 49-42. The poll did not include Dean Barkley, the nominee of the Independence Party, whose support reached double digits in two recent polls.

The poll, taken over the telephone with human interviewers by Quinnipiac University, surveyed 1,301 likely voters and has a margin for sampling error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, which means Obama's lead is statistically insignificant but Coleman's lead is significant.

Obama has been ahead or tied in every major poll published since mid-March. Looking at all recent polls of the prez race in Minnesota, as compiled by pollster.com, they have ranged from an eight-point lead for Obama to a flat tie shown by the Star Tribune in a poll taken Sept. 10-12. The new Post/Quinnipiac is comfortably within that range.

The new poll is an update on four potential battleground states that the Post has been polling all year. The other states are Wisconsin, Michigan and Colorado. The new batch finds Obama leading in all four states, but the lead reaches statistical significance only in Wisconsin, where the Post finds the race to be Obama at 47, McCain at 42.

In Michigan the Post found Obama-48; McCain-44. In Colorado: Obama-49; McCain-45.