Video: Health care and Wise County, Virginia

President-Elect Obama to Deliver Major Economic Speech Thursday, January 08, 2009

source: mybarackobama.com

By Christopher Hass - Jan 7th, 2009 at 10:53 pm EST

President-elect Barack Obama will deliver a major speech on the economy tomorrow, in which he'll make the case for urgent action on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

The focus of this plan will not just be new policy, but also a new approach to meeting our challenges that focuses on responsibility, accountability, and transparency in order to rebuild confidence and trust in our economy and our markets

President-elect Obama's speech will be delivered at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and is scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.

Generous Spirit: "A businessman from Virginia snaps up a $1-million hotel package so that people in need can attend."

The LA Times is reporting this one. The article says that Stafford would like to see 30% of the accomodations go to those who would not otherwise be fortunate enough to be a part of this historic transfer of power.

Reporting from Washington -- It was billed as the biggest, most eye-popping of the inauguration hotel packages: the JW Marriott's $1-million "build your own ball" offer, including 300 rooms, four suites, $200,000 worth of food and drink, and a primo site overlooking the parade route.

And it was snapped up within hours of Barack Obama's historic presidential win.

This morning, the Marriott is scheduled to announce that the buyer is a successful Virginia businessman who wants to bring to the inauguration disadvantaged people, terminally ill patients, wounded soldiers and others down on their luck.

Earl Stafford, 60, the founder of a Centreville, Va., technology company who grew up as one of 12 children of a Baptist minister, said he would provide his guests lodging, food and special access, as well as beauticians, gowns and tuxedos, if necessary.

Stafford has paid the $1 million, a spokesman said, and is prepared to spend an additional $600,000 for a breakfast, a luncheon and two balls at the hotel. Stafford said he hopes to recoup some of the $600,000 from sponsors yet to be recruited.

"We wanted to . . . bless those who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to be a part of the great celebration, the inauguration and the festivities," Stafford said in an interview Wednesday. read more here

Senior Member of the Senate Passes the Torch: Byrd Relinquishes Appropriations Committee Chair to Senator Inouye

Senator Byrd has seen so much in his life. He was on the wrong side of the Civil Rights movement, but he changed. Byrd passionately spoke out on the Senate Floor against the Iraq War vote.

...in a statement released Friday afternoon, Mr. Byrd said that the time had come for new leadership, and that he would turn over the reins of the Appropriations Committee to Senator Daniel K Inouye of Hawaii, who is next in line, and who turned 84 in September.

“I have been privileged to be a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee for 50 years and to have chaired the Committee for ten years, during a time of enormous change in our great country, both culturally and politically,” Mr. Byrd said in his statement, in which he also praised the election of Mr. Obama.

“A new day has dawned in Washington, and that is a good thing,” he said. “For my part, I believe that it is time for a new day at the top of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I will step away from the Chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee effective January 6, 2009.” read more here

Senator Byrd's Speech Opposing Iraq War 3/19/03 Part 1

"This it not a war of necessity, but a war of choice."

Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia

Santorum's vote challenged in PA - Chris Shays, the last of the New England Republican congressmen

Sad. So sad. Good for Democrats. Yay! Still sad. But good.

UpdateFormer Republican senator Rick Santorum has had his right to vote challenged in Pennsylvania, "and election officials will not count his absentee ballot (or that of his wife) until the matter is resolved, Allegheny County Elections Department director Mark Wolosik confirmed. Erin Vecchio, chairman of the Penn Hills School Board and chair of the Penn Hills Democratic Party, says she challenged the Santorums' right to vote in Pennsylvania this morning because they really live in Virginia."

UpdateRep. Chris Shays (R-CT) has been defeated by Democratic challenger Jim Himes. Shays' defeat means there are no more Republican congressmen in New England.

for source - click here

Not a done deal yet. Nate Silver giving me hope that Indiana has a chance of going Obama Yay today as of 5:45 PM

We shall see.

Indiana...

Just looking at some of the places where we have results in so far. Obama is substantially outperforming Kerry -- which is what he needs to do to win the state, of course, but the differences are pretty substantial.

Steuben: Kerry 34%, Obama 42%
DeKalb: Kerry 31%, Obama 38%
Knox: Kerry 36%, Obama 54%
Marshall: Kerry 31%, Obama 50%

There's More...

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Contract Post

-- Nate Silver at 5:45 PM

for source - click here

As of this writing we have our new Senator Mark Warner and the State of Vermont going for Barack Obama.

Democrats take GOP Senate seat in Virginia

Warner breezes to victory over Gilmore; Graham re-elected in S.C.

for MSNBC source - click here

Obama Campaign: Morning News

By Christopher Hass - Nov 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 am EST

From the New York Times:

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama began their final push for the White House on Saturday across an electoral map markedly different from four years ago, evidence of Mr. Obama’s success at putting new states into contention and limiting Mr. McCain’s options in the final hours.

Mr. Obama was using the last days of the contest to make incursions into Republican territory, campaigning Saturday in three states — Colorado, Missouri and Nevada — that President Bush won relatively comfortably in 2004.

Across the country, there was abundant evidence of just how much excitement the contest had stirred: In Colorado, 46 percent of the electorate has already voted in that state’s early voting program. Voters in states like Missouri, Montana, North Carolina and Virginia were getting knocks on their doors, telephone calls and leaflets slipped under their windshield wipers.

...“After 12 months and three debates,” Mr. Obama said in Henderson, Nev., “John McCain has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing that he would do different from George Bush on the economy.”

...The campaign’s final days brought a reminder of how Mr. Obama’s financial might had allowed him to redraw the political map. In addition to the states he visited on Saturday, Mr. Obama was planning stops Sunday in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, which went Republican four years ago.

From the Missouri News-Leader:

"Yes we can," Obama said, his slogan across 21 months of campaigning.

...Obama was in Nevada, then Colorado and Missouri, all states that voted for President Bush four years ago. Obama's visit to Colorado marked his sixth trip to the swing state since he clinched his party's nomination in June.

...When Obama arrived in Pueblo, Colo., his family was waiting for him on the tarmac, wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha. Obama kissed his wife, hugged his daughters.

"We are three days away from bringing fundamental change to the United States of America," Obama said. He told the crowd not to let up. "Not when so much is at stake," he said.

...Campaigning in Missouri became a family affair for Obama, who appeared on stage with his wife and daughters before tens of thousands gathered on a high school football field in Springfield, Mo. The location was in Green County, where 62 percent of voters cast ballots for Bush four years ago.

"After eight years of failed policies from George W. Bush," Obama started, sparking a chorus of boos from the crowd at the president's name. "We don't need to boo, we just need to vote," he responded.

...Obama seized on Cheney's fresh endorsement of McCain, praising the vice president for climbing out of his "undisclosed location."

"I'd like to congratulate Sen. McCain on this endorsement, because he really earned it," Obama said in Pueblo, Colo. "That endorsement didn't come easy. Sen. McCain had to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time and agree with Dick Cheney to get it."

Like Obama and McCain, the vice presidential running mates campaigned toward the finish line.

Sen. Joe Biden was in Indiana, another traditionally Republican state where Democrats are running hard, and later in Ohio, a competitive state. He accused Republicans of "trying to take the low road to the highest office in the land. They are calling Barack Obama every name in the book."

...Early voting statistics were large, and tilted Democratic. In North Carolina, officials said 2.3 million ballots had been cast as of Saturday morning, 52 percent of them by Democrats and 30 percent by Republicans.

In Missouri, spokesman Justin Hamilton said Obama's campaign had agreements with cab companies across the state to provide Election Day rides to the polls for any voter who wanted one.

He said the callers would not be asked how they intended to vote.

From the Kansas City Star:

More than 100 Obama supporters have cut through Saturday’s thick fog to await last-minute instructions at campaign headquarters in midtown Kansas City.

Some have coffee and donuts before starting phone calls or marching through neighborhoods, looking for votes.

“This is kind of our rehearsal for Tuesday,” said volunteer Jackie Gafford. “Everybody knows what they need to do.”

“I might not have done this in Kansas, with all their early voting,” said volunteer Caroline McKnight, who will be making phone calls for Obama. “But they’re really excited in Missouri to get out on Election Day.”

...Obama has the biggest political ground effort in Missouri’s history.

“These are all folks now, no matter what happens November 4, who are really engaged in their communities,” said Buffy Wicks, Obama state director.

Penny Hershman is one of Obama’s 250 neighborhood leaders in Jackson County. There are 2,500 of them in the state, workers who have been trained in political outreach — after promising to work a minimum of 20 hours each week for the Democrat.

Hershman stopped last week at the south Kansas City home of Mark Bureman, who quickly told her she would not have to work too hard. Bureman was firmly onboard with Obama.

“This is going to be an easy house for you,” he said.

Hershman asked whether Bureman and his wife, Linda, could volunteer to make phone calls at Obama headquarters over the weekend. Check and check. Both signed up for shifts.

Being from the area helps, Hershman said. “You say, ‘I’m Penny, and I’m from the neighborhood.’ I think they respond to you a little better.”

...The campaign has established a sophisticated, computer-based outreach program — all data wind up getting poured into a big database in Chicago — that climaxes this weekend.

Campaign staff leadership has been divided into 400 similar teams. A team supervisor works with coordinators of canvassing, data processing, volunteer recruitment and phone banks. The teams are in charge of a particular area and keep meticulous notes about each contact made, either in person or over the phone.

...“There’s been this disconnect,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat and Obama supporter. “There’s not been a focus on connecting people who want to be a part of the campaign to the campaign.”

The tools, of course, have changed. Door knocks and phone calls have been added to cell phone outreach and text-messaging, a technological advantage that has brought the Obama campaign millions of dollars and thousands of extra volunteers.

Obama Campaign: Senator Jim Webb for Barack

By Amanda Scott - Oct 27th, 2008 at 11:25 pm EDT

Barack Obama has always had a respect for the second amendment. He not only respects it, but he believes in it. And despite rumors that say differently, Barack will not take guns away from sportsmen. He will make sportsmen and their priorities a centerpiece of his land and water conservation agenda.

He will do this by protecting gun rights, creating new access for hunting and angling, restoring degraded areas to improve hunting and angling opportunities, promote responsible energy development on public lands and much more.

Barack has a commitment to fighting for rural Americans, their jobs and their values. Which is one of the reasons he has earned the support of Virginia Senator Jim Webb.

Senator Webb took time out to tell the campaign why he supports Barack for president as another rural family in Wytheville, Virginia declares their support for the Democratic ticket.

Read more about Barack's plan for Sportsmen and Rural Americans.

Obama Campaign: Road Blog: Joe Biden Campaigns Through Virginia from Morning Until Night

by Obama Road Blog

Saturday October 25 2008 08:01:34 PM

“We all love our country. We are all American. We are one nation under God." – Joe Biden

Joe Biden tirelessly campaigned through Virginia yesterday and today, holding Change We Need Rallies in Danville, Martinsville, and Suffolk. His motorcade wound through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains into regions of Virginia where Democratic presidential candidates have historically not campaigned.

So far, Barack and Joe have made nine visits to central, southwest, and southeast Virginia during the campaign, regions where John McCain and Sarah Palin have visited only twice. These are areas that have been hit particularly hard by economic policies of the last eight years. Five major plant closings between 1999 and 2002 cost the Martinsville area 9,000 textile jobs. This summer, American of Martinsville eliminated 400 jobs (mostly among production workers) at its Redd Level plant.

Joe invoked a number of standing ovations in Danville and Martinsville yesterday, where collectively 1,400 people showed up to hear him speak.

Below is a video of Joe's full speech from the Danville rally:

In Suffolk this morning, 975 people attended a Change We Need Rally at Nansemond River High School. Joe responded to the recent comment made by one of John McCain's advisors that only certain parts of the state constitute “the real Virginia”. Joe asserted that the level of a person’s patriotism does not depend on what part of the state they live in, noting that 6,800 people from Virginia served in Iraq, with 136 fallen soldiers who hail from every part of the state.

Please enjoy a video clip from the Suffok rally:

Sharon Barnes
October 25, 2008
En route to Wilmington, Deleware

Raising Kaine reporting huge early voting turnout in Virginia

Thanks for this uplifting bit of information Lowell. Keep it coming! PD

The following analysis is from Arlington County Treasurer Frank O'Leary, who is deservedly famous for his election projections. The title, "Katy Bar the Door," is appropriate, as "Absentee voting has been off the charts throughout the state." Also, Arlington may very well reach its goal - or even surpass it - of 80% turnout this year. Very impressive, and very good news if you're a Barack Obama supporter! :) read more here

Obama Campaign: Road Blog: Virginians Share Their Views on Barack in Newport News

by Obama Road Blog

Monday, October 06, 2008 at 10:49 PM

Saturday was a gorgeous day in Newport News, as thousands of people flocked to the water's edge in Victory Landing Park to hear Barack Obama speak. The rally overlooked the James River, with a Navy ship serving as an austere backdrop. The theme of the speech was healthcare issues.

Folks were energized by Barack's call to action to register and to vote. He proclaimed that Virginia has a chance to help change the course of the country -- to save the failing economic system and guard against the privatization of health insurance.

Please enjoy photos from the day and listen as four Virginians from the rally share their views on why it is imperative for people to vote for Barack.

Sharon Barnes
October 4th, 2008
Asheville, North Carolina

Ralph Stanley, a legend in Bluegrass music has a radio spot airing in Southwest Virginia - "We need a change."

I wonder if there's a group called 'Bluegrass Folks for Obama'? I bet there is.

I think Ralph Stanley explains why folks need to vote for real change, and that Barack Obama represents the kind of change we need quite nicely. PD

In a new radio ad running in southwest Virginia, bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley speaks out on behalf of Barack Obama. “I think I know a little something about the families around here,” he says. “We all need a change.” The Grammy winner is so popular in his home state, bumper stickers proclaiming “Ralph Stanley for President” popped up in the 1970s, according to the Wall Street Journal. With his endorsement, Stanley joins a chorus of artists rallying behind the Democratic candidate, including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Kanye West, Stevie Wonder and the Grateful Dead.

for source - click here

A Down Pour & Beautiful Pictures: Barack Obama, Joe Biden & 25,000 (according to Police Chief Jay Snipes) in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Obama Campaign Pictures: Virginia Supporters do local service project

I've been so busy lately, trying to keep up with my self-appointed political junkie duties, trying to keep the peace in the household as I obsess on politics and spend far too much time on the computer, and driving my Big Yellow School Bus and my wonderful middle-schoolers around each day. It just occurred to me, that I haven't shared any campaign pics in a long while.

I remedy that by saying here are some Virginia Obama supporters doing clean up service work for Barack Obama's call to service.

Obama Supporter's Rock!

Jones Point Park, Alexandria, Virginia
site of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge

Obama Campaign: Morning News

by Christopher Hass

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 08:00 AM

From the Associated Press:

Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday any plan to rescue Wall Street from its financial woes must ensure that taxpayers are reimbursed and corporate executives are not further enriched for mismanagement.

...The Illinois senator added that his proposed middle-class tax cuts remain "absolutely necessary" despite the economic turbulence. He said they would put money in the pockets of working families at a time when the economy might be worsening.

Obama outlined several principles that he said should be included in the bailout to ensure that troubled financial firms and their executives don't take advantage of taxpayers

Companies that take financial aid from the government must slash their executives' salaries, he said.

..."This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives," he said at a news conference.

Decisions on how to spend that $700 billion cannot be left solely in the hands of the Treasury secretary, Obama added.

Obama repeated his criticism of Republican John McCain's statement last week that the fundamentals of the economy are sound.

"I don't think, actually, the fundamentals of our economy are where they need to be," Obama said.

But speaking to reporters in Florida, where he later began preparing for Friday's debate, Obama said he remains committed to addressing needs in health care, education and energy.

He said he has outlined ways of paying for those programs that may not be affected by the Wall Street bailout and that they would help reduce economic turmoil.

..."When it comes to the middle-class tax cuts ... that is something that I believe is absolutely necessary to strengthen an economy that is going to be sliding, probably, into a deeper recession," Obama said.

From the Boston Herald:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Republican John McCain protected offshore tax shelters worth billions of dollars to U.S. insurance giants.

In his second trip in four days to this battleground state [Virginia] today, Biden said McCain promised to oppose any efforts to close a "Bermuda loophole" where American companies shielded $4 billion to $7 billion from U.S. taxes.

By claiming their headquarters as Bermuda, Biden said, firms actually based in the United States can keep profits out of the reach of the Internal Revenue Service.

"They're skipping out on billions of dollars in taxes, and that money could be used to insure our children, ... to make sure the (Veterans Administration) is not underfunded, to rebuild bridges that are crumbling around the nation," Biden said.

Biden was referring to a provision of tax law that some insurance companies can use to wipe out much of their U.S. tax liability.

...That creates a deduction that erases millions of dollars in taxable profits, costing the U.S. Treasury $4 billion or more a year.

McCain spent three days in Bermuda in August 2007 meeting business and political leaders, and while there was quoted by the island's main newspaper, the Royal Gazette, as promising to defend tax breaks for insurance companies that locate there.

"The industry, the reinsurance that's had such phenomenal success has been good for both nations," McCain was quoted as saying in an Aug. 23, 2007 article. "I would oppose any measures that would upset that."

..."We have a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a place at the table and everybody else is on the menu," Biden said.

..."On the floor of the United States Senate, John spoke out against these offshore tax breaks not long ago. Then while he was in Bermuda, according to the Bermuda World Gazette ... he started singing a very, very different tune," Biden said

Paraphrasing the newspaper account, Biden said McCain promised a group of insurance industry executives and lobbyists he would block efforts to close the loophole. In appreciation, Biden said, the industry gave McCain's campaign about $50,000.

From the Associated Press:

Democrats typically skip right over reliably Republican Indiana when plotting presidential campaign strategy.

Not Barack Obama.

The candidate from next-door Illinois is bidding to flip the state into the Democratic column this year.

To that end, he is doing what no presidential candidate has done in decades — spending significant amounts of money and time in the state, while Republican John McCain maintains a low profile.

Obama narrowly lost the May primary here to Hillary Rodham Clinton. And in the process, he had "the opportunity to at least define himself with Hoosier voters and that has lingered," said Kip Tew, a former state Democratic chairman who is a volunteer adviser to the Obama campaign. "They competed with a ground game that no one's ever seen in the state."

... The Democrat has 32 offices across the state and dozens of paid staffers. His campaign spent about $6 million on television advertising in Indiana leading up to the May primary and has aired at least $1.5 million in TV ads since June.

Obama has made five stops in the state since mid-July, and running mate Joe Biden was returning to the state Wednesday.

The McCain campaign, by contrast, is nearly invisible. It has no field offices or paid staffers working full-time in the state, and McCain hasn't visited the state since July 1.

Both candidates know history is not on Obama's side: For more than a generation, Indiana has been colored in for the GOP nominee soon after polls start closing. George W. Bush won with 60 percent in 2004 and 57 percent in 2000, and the state last went Democratic in the 1964 Lyndon Johnson landslide.

But Jessie Bochert, 45, who runs a business preparing houses for sale from her home in Granger, shows why Obama thinks he may have an opening in the state. Bochert, who voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, initially supported McCain but switched to Obama and began volunteering for his campaign.

"I feel guilty for all that has happened" under Bush, she said. "There are so many people I talk to, they can't afford their prescriptions, they don't know what to pay, they can't afford anything. It's really the economy, and that's what it's coming down to."

...Public polls taken this month show the two candidates running about even or McCain slightly ahead.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Every day, Stephanie Jackson drives from North Richmond to the South Side, where she works and her four daughters attend school.

...On the nights when her daughter, who is prone to allergic reactions, wakes up breathless, Jackson isn't sure she has enough gas to make it to the emergency room.

Jackson told her story yesterday sitting beside Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in a sparse, cinder-block community center off of a trailer-speckled stretch of Jefferson Davis Highway in Chesterfield County.

Sebelius, once considered a potential running mate for Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, was in town to talk up Obama's policies. She sat among four women who addressed hardships that touched off policy discussions from Sebelius.

It wasn't much different from the gathering organized for Michelle Obama's trip to Richmond last week, when the nominee's wife met with women who are struggling financially.

Sebelius, a Democratic governor in a Republican state, said in a brief interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch that in "the economic challenges we're facing, women are on the front lines."

"I certainly think there was no question this historic candidacy of [Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton] left a lot of people very excited about watching a woman on the campaign trail running for president," she said.

...But people are now studying how the candidates' agendas will affect their families, she said.

"The road to the White House goes right through the Commonwealth of Virginia," she added.

Virginia Tech - Montgomery County Virginia Voter Registrar Randy Wertz Press Release uses scare tactics

Sept. 3, 2008

Warning for College Student Voters

Last week, Virginia’s Montgomery County, home to Virginia Tech, issued a press release regarding proper protocol for college students registering to vote. In interviews with Inside Higher Ed Tuesday, it was described by turns as “unsubstantiated,” “chilling,” and (more generously) as not “incredibly encouraging or friendly.”

It reads, in part: “The Code of Virginia states that a student must declare a legal residence in order to register. A legal residence can be either a student’s permanent address from home or their current college residence. By making Montgomery County your permanent residence, you have declared your independence from your parents and can no longer be claimed as a dependent on their income tax filings — check with your tax professional. If you have a scholarship attached to your former residence, you could lose this funding. And, if you change your registration to Montgomery County, Virginia Code requires you to change your driver’s license and car registration to your present address within 30 days.” read more here

Carry me back to old Virginia: Barack Obama and Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia stump in 'Old Dominion'

Obama: I'm not too liberal for Va.

He points to stances on abortion, guns and same-sex marriage

Friday, Aug 22, 2008

By OLYMPIA MEOLA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday brushed aside claims that he's too liberal to win in Virginia and suggested that his race will play only a minor role in his bid to capture the pivotal swing state.

"I think that race is always a factor in the minds of some people, but I think that's the tiny minority here in Virginia and around the country," Obama said in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Obama spoke after a town-hall meeting at John Tyler Community College in Chester, where the Illinois senator, joined by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, talked about the economy before an audience of about 300 people.

"I think that people are looking for who's going to fight for them in the White House," Obama said. "And if they have confidence that I'm going to make their lives better, their children's lives better, I don't think they care whether I'm green or blue or polka dot."

Aided by Kaine, one of his earliest and most enthusiastic supporters, Obama has made a big push in Virginia.

He has peppered the state with 33 campaign offices and supplemented television ads with four visits during his general-election campaign. All are signs that he believes Virginia's 13 electoral votes are within reach; a Democratic presidential nominee has not carried the state in 44 years.

Obama spent the past two days talking about the economy. He visited Martinsville, which has the state's highest unemployment rate, and Lynchburg, Chester and Chesapeake.

During the interview in Chester, Obama sought to dispel the notion he's too liberal for Virginians by affirming his stances on several hot-button issues, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and his support for Second Amendment rights.

"I am a strong believer of the Second Amendment," he said. "Nobody's going to take the guns of law-abiding Virginians away from them."

He said that while he supports abortion rights, he believes abortion is "a moral issue" and that he put "a strong message" in the Democratic platform that "we need to do things to reduce the numbers of abortions, through support for adoption and support for mothers, and providing education and various strategies to reduce unwanted pregnancies."

But convincing a majority of voters in a state that has held tightly to its Republican roots in presidential elections is Obama's challenge.

He says that mathematically, he could win the presidency by amassing 270 electoral votes without Virginia's 13, but he's working doggedly to turn the state Democratic.

"The fact that we're tied . . . I think that sends a good signal about what we're doing," Obama said, referring to polling showing he and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain are close in Virginia. "But it's not going to be easy.

"This is a state in transition. Obviously the success of [former Gov.] Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and [Sen.] Jim Webb indicate that Democrats can win statewide, but it's going to require everything we've got in order to pull this out."

That likely will include more help from Kaine, who yesterday still was enveloped in running-mate speculation. Obama declined to discusshis vice-presidential pick -- an announcement could come as soon as today -- but he said he has the "highest regard" for Kaine.

"I think the world of Tim Kaine," Obama said. "He's one of my earliest supporters, he was my earliest gubernatorial endorser outside of my home state, and he is a great friend of mine.

"He's going to help me win Virginia -- period."

for source - click here

On the road again: Barack Obama pictures of the day in Virginia

Can you see why folks like Barack Obama? He's as honest and straightforward as a politician can be as he or she looks forward to stepping on the next 'media land mine' without meaning to. He's thoughtful and direct. He hasn't come from privilege and he understands everyday people like you and me. He knows what's right about this great country, and he knows what has gone wrong, just like you and I know, and he wants to make it right.

Here's yet another day in the life of Barack Obama.

Who is Mark Warner? Obama Campaign annouces Mark Warner will give keynote at Denver convention

Former VA Gov. Mark Warner to Keynote Democratic National Convention
By Laurin Manning - Aug 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am EDT

This morning the Obama campaign released the following announcement that former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will deliver the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

MARK WARNER TO DELIVER CONVENTION KEYNOTE ADDRESS ON TUESDAY, AUG. 26th

CHICAGO - The Obama for America campaign announced today that former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will deliver the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic Convention on Tuesday, August 26th, the second night of the Convention.

An innovative businessman known for his ability to work with Republicans, Democrats and Independents, campaign officials said that Warner's vision for Virginia and his leadership style echoed the Convention's theme of Americans coming together for change.

"Barack Obama believes you can't have a strong economy when you have a weak middle class," said Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe. "Millions of Americans are struggling to get by, forced to make impossible choices about their future and the future of their families. Tuesday's Convention program will feature the voices of Americans who share Obama's concerns and strongly support his detailed economic plan to grow the economy, create jobs, restore fairness, and expand opportunity. As Governor of Virginia, Warner used his experience in business to help deliver jobs and hope to the citizens of Virginia. His work creating jobs in Southwest and Southside Virginia is a model for the rest of the Country. Like Barack Obama, Mark Warner is not afraid to challenge the status quo to bring people together and get things moving. It's that kind of spirit and innovation that resulted in his selection as keynote speaker on a night when we will be discussing how to renew America's promise."

Warner, a candidate for the United States Senate in Virginia, will speak on Tuesday night of the Democratic Convention. The theme of Tuesday's night program at the Convention is Renewing America's Promise.

-------------------------------
Who is Mark Warner?

Peon Update: Michelle Obama to meet with Military Family members in Norfolk, Virginia

August 4, 2008 Posted: 12:02 PM ET

Obama camp launches military families working group

(CNN) — Days after a television spot from John McCain’s campaign suggested Barack Obama did not hold enough respect for members of the military, the presumptive Democratic nominee’s campaign announced Monday that Michelle Obama will host a roundtable discussion with military spouses highlighting the launch of a military families advisory group. read more here