Below The Beltway

With only a month left until Election Day, both the Obama and McCain campaigns spent another Saturday concentrating on Virginia’s 13 Electoral Votes:

Sen. John McCain’s brother Joe headlined a rally for the Republican presidential candidate yesterday in Loudoun County that drew hundreds of supporters, many of them veterans.

Elsewhere in the battleground state, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) drew thousands of supporters to Newport News for a speech on health care.

The Loudoun event, at an outdoor pavilion at Lansdowne Town Center, included remarks from Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and a handful of former prisoners of war. Joe McCain recounted his brother’s ordeal as a POW in Vietnam and his refusal to be released before others.

“That’s not just unimaginable courage, but that’s character,” Joe McCain said. “And when that proverbial phone rings at 3 a.m. that you keep hearing about, it’s that kind of character that you want connected to the hand that picks up that phone.”

Joe McCain added: “I’ll go a step further. That’s the kind of character that you need to answer that phone.”

At another point, Joe McCain apparently sought to make a joke about part of Northern Virginia, referring to “Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country.” The remark drew laughter from the crowd.

Yea, call your opponents communists, that’s classy Joe.

And if you’re a Virginia’s who can’t make it to a rally, don’t worry, because the campaign is coming to your living room and your mailbox:

RICHMOND — Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are spending nearly $300,000 a day on local television advertising in Virginia, according to an independent analyst, with Obama far outspending McCain as they gear up for the final month of the presidential campaign.

With Democrats and Republicans agreeing that the contest is essentially tied in Virginia, the campaign for the commonwealth’s 13 electoral votes is accelerating. The rivals also are blanketing the state with direct mail and other ads.

Obama, a senator from Illinois, has targeted Virginia relentlessly, believing it will be almost impossible for McCain, a senator from Arizona, to win the White House on Nov. 4 if he loses the historically conservative state.

Obama’s strategy appears to be paying off, officials in both parties say. On Wednesday, McCain campaign officials announced that they are diverting more resources to Virginia, which last voted for a Democratic presidential nominee in 1964.

“We feel good, and we are doubling the size of the field staff and offices in Virginia . . . and that is a reflection of the energy and support we have seen in Virginia,” said Mike DuHaime, McCain’s political director.

It’s been a very long time since Presidential candidates have paid this much attention to the Old Dominion. This should be a fun 30 days.