Obama Visit Signals Virginia Will Be Battleground State In Election

Obama town hall meeting
Virginia High School gym
1200 Long Crescent Drive,
Bristol, Va.
* Pre-distributed tickets required
* Doors open: 9:45 a.m.
* Event begins: 11:45 a.m.
* Parking: Virginia High School lots
* Not permitted: bags, signs or banners
* Traffic: A section of Long Crescent will be closed in front of the VHS gym

BRISTOL, Va. – Sen. Barack Obama’s visit today to the Twin City is a sign that Virginia is in play for the general election, the region’s congressman says.
Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will speak at a town hall-style meeting at Virginia High School. It will be the first of many Obama visits to Virginia, observers predict.
“Sen. Obama is determined to carry Virginia this fall,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va.
“This will be the first time our state has been in play since 1964, and Sen. Obama will be the first major candidate to pay attention to Virginia since 1964,” Boucher, who represents Southwest Virginia’s 9th District, said in a telephone interview. “This is truly unprecedented.”
Boucher said Obama promised him earlier this year he would schedule an event in the region after cancelling a planned appearance in the Roanoke area days before the Virginia primary election.
“I believe both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain [the presumptive GOP nominee] will travel across Virginia this year,” the longtime congressman said.
On Wednesday, state GOP leaders used a conference call to criticize the Bristol event and challenged Obama to meet Republican candidate John McCain face to face.
“He [Obama] didn’t do well in the Appalachian region. Now he’s having a town hall where he’ll be ushered in, answer a few softball questions and be ushered out,” said state Delegate Chris Saxman, R-Staunton and co-chairman of McCain’s Virginia campaign.
“We urge Sen. Obama to have a series of real town hall meetings with John McCain and have an honest discussion about the issues,” Saxman said.
While Virginians historically have supported Republican presidential candidates, recent gubernatorial wins by Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and the U.S. Senate win by Democrat Jim Webb prove that dynamic is changing, Boucher said.
The state is also important, Boucher said, because all three of those winning Democrats have been mentioned as possible vice presidential running mates for Obama.
Boucher, who has been supporting the Obama campaign for some time, said the Illinois senator has a unique appeal.
“I believe he is the most compelling [presidential] candidate the Democrats have fielded since 1968 and Robert Kennedy,” said Boucher, of Abingdon. “He is attracting millions of new voters, and that is unmatched by any national candidate since Robert Kennedy.”
Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia’s nationally recognized political analyst, said the state is very much in play in the presidential drama.
“If Obama is going to carry Virginia, he must reduce [John] McCain’s majority in Southwest Virginia,” Sabato said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “Everyone knows McCain will carry Southwest Virginia handily. But if he [McCain] wins in a landslide in Southwest Virginia, it could negate Obama’s gains in Northern Virginia and other places.”
Sabato said Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign was the last time a Democrat came close to winning Virginia in more than 40 years.
Saxman, the Republican state delegate and state co-chair of the McCain campaign, said Obama is also trying to secure voters who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton and might vote for McCain in November. Clinton handily defeated Obama in Southwest Virginia.
Saxman and McCain co-chairman Jerry Kilgore – the former state attorney general and a Scott County native –  predicted Obama’s message will not resonate with rural voters.
“Sen. Obama has been very critical of people in rural America for their views on guns,” Kilgore said. “Rural voters in Southwest Virginia will remember that.”
Kilgore also predicted mine workers in the region would not support Obama, despite his receiving support from the United Mine Workers of America.
The Bristol event is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m.

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