Obama’s Final Virginia Rally Draws 85,000

By NEIL H. SIMON Media General News Service
Published: November 4, 2008

MANASSAS,Va.— Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama saved his biggest Virginia rally for last—bringing out more than 85,000 people to the Prince William County Fairgrounds on the eve of Election Day.

The Monday night rally—Obama’s final major event before voters head to the polls—brought the Illinois senator back to where he kicked off the general election race five months ago—Northern Virginia.

“I know Virginia’s ready to bring about change in America,“ Obama said to a roaring crowd that waited hours under a “Vote for Change” sign for their candidate to appear. “It starts here Virginia,“ he said.

Obama is counting on heavy turnout in Northern Virginia—which experienced tremendous growth and has voted increasingly Democratic in recent elections—to turn the state blue and boost him toward the White House.

“You’ve got to wait in line,” Obama said, even if it rains on Election Day. “We can’t stop now, not when there’s so much at stake.“

His running mate Joe Biden is to greet voters in Richmond today.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain campaigned in Fairfax County Saturday. McCain reached out to Southwest Virginia voters one last time Monday with a rally at Tri-Cities Regional Airport in nearby Blountville, Tenn.

“We’re going to keep Virginia red,“ McCain declared. He describes Virginia as a must-win.

No Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964.

The election eve stumping capped a feverish race to the finish in which candidates and top surrogates barnstormed Virginia and volunteers worked overtime for the state’s 13 electoral votes.

The volunteers have been working 6 a.m. to midnight, said McCain spokeswoman Gail Gitcho at McCain’s national campaign headquarters in Arlington, where a couple dozen volunteers called voters and others grabbed signs and literature to leaflet Northern Virginia.

“This is now the hour to achieve results,“ she said. “McCain is closing very strong in this state.“

But with polls consistently showing Obama leading here, some McCain volunteers said they’ve heard anti-Republican sentiment firsthand.

Doris Pappas said several voters on her call list have sworn at her.

Other voters, she said, have turned to prayer in the final days, hoping the polls will be proved wrong.

“They say, ‘I’m praying everyday and night he wins,‘ and I say, ‘I am praying too,“ said Pappas of Falls Church, a retired World Bank employee.

Across town, at one of Obama’s 74 Virginia field offices, it was standing-room-only at noontime.

Thirty volunteers worked the phones. Another half-dozen workers prepared maps and literature for volunteers to distribute door-to-door.

Both campaigns have welcomed a steady stream of non-Virginia volunteers.

Outside McCain’s headquarters, Nick Hartley, from England, wore a Republican elephant suit and waved McCain signs.

“We got so many horns (of support),“ he said. “It’s amazing… the level of enthusiasm.“

Maureen Towey, a theatre director from New York City, arrived at the Obama campaign in mid-October.

“There are more people in the office all the time,“ she said. “There’s a greater sense of urgency.“

Ernest Lent of Arlington, a World War II veteran, peered at his Obama call list and said, “Tomorrow quite literally will decide the fate of the world.“

To political observers, McCain’s five visits to Virginia and Obama’s 11 underscore the reality that Republicans can no longer take Virginia for granted.

“From a symbolic standpoint and an electoral standpoint, Virginia is one of the top battlegrounds in the country,“ said Mitch Stewart, Obama’s Virginia state director.

Toni Travis, a political scientist at George Mason University, put the battle for Virginia in an historical context.

“It’s like the Civil War all over again. We’ll fight the last battle in Virginia,“ she said.