President Obama’s choice of Virginia as one of just two states from which he will formally kick off his re-election campaign underscores the Old Dominion’s standing as one of the most critical battlegrounds on this fall’s electoral map.
Obama’s campaign announced Wednesday evening that the president will hold rallies May 5 on college campuses in Richmond and in Columbus, Ohio, to officially launch his general election campaign against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
“We believe there are even more pathways than there were before, but clearly Virginia and Ohio are two critical states in this campaign,” said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.
In truth, Obama has been campaigning around the country for months. His re-election team has set up 13 field offices in Virginia, giving him a head start in a ground game he’s expected to back up with a massive campaign war chest.
But Virginia is also the home of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, one of Romney’s most popular surrogates and a potential vice presidential running mate. It was McDonnell who captured the governorship just 12 months after Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in nearly half a century.
“Virginia and the rest of the nation can’t afford four more years of the same,” McDonnell said in response to Obama’s announced visit.
Obama will use the kickoff rallies to continue his courtship of young voters, making his Virginia appearance at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. The focus on central Virginia, instead of voter-rich Fairfax County, is a clear sign Obama is trying to re-energize African-Americans, who turned out in droves for Obama four years ago.
“There is a sense that he wants to generate some enthusiasm in college campuses but he’s picking them in places he needs to run up the score, which is true of the [Democrat-friendly] Greater Richmond area,” said Kyle Kondik, political analyst for the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
The center released an analysis Thursday that identified states Obama and Romney are likely to carry and others over which they’ll battle. The analysis shows Obama starting off with 247 of the 270 electoral votes he needs to win a second term and Romney with 206. Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, is listed as a tossup.
“There are ways to win without Virginia, but it’s one of the two or three most important states,” Kondik said. “I don’t see how Obama loses if he wins Virginia.”
