The McCain campaign, despite dismissing the D.C. suburbs as apart from “the real Virginia,” hasn’t quit knocking on doors in the commonwealth’s most populous region.
Four of the campaign’s 12 new Virginia field offices sit in Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties. Along with those new offices, they boast a “heavy volume of volunteers,” many of whom work in the District but live close enough to give their time to the campaign, according to McCain spokeswoman Gail Gitcho.
Despite this renewed effort, the campaign has recently downplayed the importance of the voter-rich area. McCain senior adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer told MSNBC last week that “the rest of the state, the real Virginia, if you will, I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain’s message.”
The region is not only shifting leftward on its own, but has been the subject of one of the Obama campaign’s most formidable ground operations. Even before the Illinois senator began campaigning in Northern Virginia, the Democratic Party already had a powerful volunteer machine intact that has helped build majorities in local, state and federal offices.
“I don’t know if there is a more self-organized and active group of volunteers anywhere in the county,” said Obama spokesman Kevin Griffis.
The campaign has adopted a “neighbor to neighbor” strategy that relies heavily on volunteers knocking on doors and making phone calls in their own communities. Obama supporters in Fairfax County, which has more than 1 million residents, knocked on more doors in a recent weekend than the campaign did in some states, Griffis said.
The message in Northern Virginia is slightly different than down-state. Griffis said the campaign focuses more on public transportation, for example, pointing to McCain’s vote this month against a $1.5 billion bill to fund D.C.’s Metro system. Obama voted for the bill.
Political pros, though, point out that McCain has the advantage of an established Republican organization in the area and doesn’t have to spend as much time building one as Obama has.
Early in-person voting for those who would qualify for absentee ballots began in Virginia on Sept. 19.
