Barack Obama and John McCain continue to fight it out for the Old Dominion’s thirteen Electoral Votes:
As the two major presidential candidates made a final, urgent push for Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, Sen. John McCain appeared before an energized crowd in Springfield, and Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign announced that he will hold his final event Monday at 9 p.m. at the Prince William County Fairgrounds.
With chants of “Keep Virginia Red,” thousands of supporters crowded into a truck parking lot yesterday to boost McCain, who asked for help in the run-up to Tuesday’s vote.
“We’re a few points down, but we’re coming back,” McCain said to raucous applause. Many in the crowd said they rejected reports that he is trailing in a state that has been a traditional stronghold for Republican presidential candidates.
“I don’t believe it’s true, because most of the people I talk to are for McCain,” substitute teacher Micke Stapor of Herndon said. “How could we possibly be voting for someone who is so far left? . . . It’s close, but it will still go red.”
But in the political physics of the campaign’s frenzied last hours, the outpouring for McCain helped spur area Democrats, including Chris Kameron, who lives near the site of the rally, to accompany two neighbors to knock on 55 doors for Obama yesterday afternoon.
“That’s why we got out there,” said Kameron, a parent liaison for Fairfax schools.
“We’re really happy Obama’s ahead in the polls, but we’re scared, too, that something might happen,” said Kameron’s neighbor, John Betz of Burke, who was joined by daughter Caitlin, 18.
At a storefront Democratic outpost in a Springfield strip mall, down from a dollar store and Nail Villa, dozens of volunteers churned through calls and organized voter lists. Out behind two green trash bins, a half-dozen high school students assembled plastic Obama-Biden signs.
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former president John F. Kennedy, was campaigning for Obama in Fairfax yesterday, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to make an Obama campaign stop in the county today.
The thrusts into voter-rich Northern Virginia show how crucial the commonwealth remains as the nearly two-year campaign comes to a close. And the state’s largest county is a big draw.
“Fairfax County is key to this election. You know that,” McCain said. “You know how important it is for us to win here. You know how important it is that we put this country in the right direction. I need your help for the next three days.”
McCain’s exhortations notwithstanding, it’s become fairly clear that it’s in neighboring Prince William County where the battle for Virginia may be decided:
On Battle Street in Manassas, a quiet war is being waged. In front of one house sits an Obama-Biden sign. Next door, one for McCain-Palin. Back and forth they go, up and down the block.
Even in a battleground state — as Virginia has been labeled this year — it is uncommon to find a county, much less a single street, that is politically so closely divided. But in recent years, through demographic shifts, political and economic trends and intense population growth, the Prince William County area, once a Republican stronghold, has gone from reliably red to purple. That has made it a prime target for the two major presidential campaigns as they have vied for supremacy in the commonwealth in hopes of capturing its 13 electoral votes Tuesday.
As a result, the county has had personal visits by both major presidential candidates this year, as well as an all-out assault of campaigning via surrogates, TV ads and signs. To some observers and local leaders, the increased attention is great for the county: It guarantees increased name recognition for Prince William outside the area and attention to important county issues such as home foreclosures, and encourages residents to become more civic-minded.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Supervisor Martin E. Nohe (R-Coles), who added that although he is supporting Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), it was good for Prince William to have Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) appear in the county as well.
“It’s difficult to argue that having a national candidate come to Prince William County, speak here, get a chance to meet some people and bring a little name ID to the county [is not] a positive thing,” Nohe said.
Especially when one of those candidates makes your county the site of his penultimate campaign rally and, in effect, the location for the closing argument for his candidacy. That hasn’t happened in Virginia before.
Going in to the final days of the campaign, the battle remains tight. The latest poll, from Mason-Dixon, shows Barack Obama with a 3 point margin over John McCain, which may give John McCain some hope of holding on to the Old Dominion:
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain remain locked in a close race in Virginia, according to the final Mason Dixon Polling & Research Inc. survey.
The poll, conducted for several Virginia newspapers, has Obama drawing 47 percent vs. McCain’s 44 percent. A Mason-Dixon Virginia poll two weeks ago had Obama ahed by 2-points, 47 to 45 percent..
According to the Virginian Pilot, pollster J. Bradford Coker found large numbers of white, undecided voters. Coker said McCain can still carry Virginia if those voters break his way during the final 48-hours of the campaign.
But Obama remains well-positioned to win Virginia. The Mason-Dixon poll shows him beating McCain by 30-points in Northern Virginia and by 10-points in Hampton Roads, a crucial battleground in statewide elections. McCain leads in the rest of the state.
So, there’s still hope for McCain, but it seems to be a slim hope.
My guess is that Obama will win Virginia by 3-4 points thanks largely to heavy turnout in places like Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and the City of Richmond.
