Below The Beltway

The Virginia State Board of Elections announced today that nearly half a million new voters registered in Virginia this year:
RICHMOND, Oct. 15 — Nearly a half million people registered to vote this year in Virginia, according to statistics released today by the State Board of Elections.
Subtracting people who died or moved away, Virginia now has [...]

Yet another poll is out showing that Virginia is looking more and more like a blue state in 2008:
New polls out Wednesday in some crucial states that could decide the race for the White House suggest Sen. John McCain is having to defend himself in areas that once were reliably Republican.
A new CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research [...]

RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick is now saying that his comments tying together Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden were just a joke:
RICHMOND, Oct. 14 — While Virginia’s Republican leaders sought to distance themselves from him, the chairman of the state GOP said Tuesday that he was just making a joke when he compared Democratic presidential [...]

John McCain spoke this morning about recent comments made by RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick:
Republican presidential nominee John McCain responded this morning to the comments Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick made over the weekend comparing Democratic nominee Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden.
Speaking on Richmond’s WRVA radio this morning, McCain said it’s not fair [...]

The Virginia State Board of Elections has adopted a ban on political-oriented clothing in polling places:
If you plan to vote on November 4, be careful what you wear to the polls.
The State Board of Elections today adopted a ban on clothing, hats, buttons or other paraphernalia that directly advocates the election or defeat of a [...]

In yet another sign that the McCain Campaign is abandoning the negative strategy it had adopted only a week ago, the New York Times reports on the following statement issued by the campaign:
[A] spokeswoman for the McCain campaign disavowed Mr. Frederick’s remark. “While Barack Obama is associated with domestic terrorist William Ayers, the McCain campaign [...]

The latest Rasmussen poll of the Old Dominion continues to show Barack Obama within striking distance of a feat that no Democrat since Lyndon Johnson has accomplished:
Barack Obama continues to lead John McCain in Virginia, which this year has shaped up to be a critical battleground state. The latest Fox News/Rasmussen Reports telephone poll in [...]

A new Time article about the state of the Presidential election in Virginia is getting a lot of play in the blogosphere, thanks largely to something RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick is quoted as saying:
No Democratic presidential candidate has carried Virginia since 1964, and most election years both campaigns pretty much ignore the state. This time, [...]

The latest Rasmussen poll of the Old Dominion gives Barack Obama a slim edge over John McCain with four weeks to go until Election Day:
The latest Fox News/Rasmussen Reports poll in Virginia finds Barack Obama leading John McCain 50% to 48%.
This represents the third consecutive poll where Obama has held a modest lead over his [...]

In case you missed it, here’s the complete video of last week’s final debate between Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore:

H/T: College Republican Federation of Virginia