ARLINGTON, VA. — A new battleground looms in a state where picnickers still flock to venerated fields of Confederate glory. The campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are gearing up for today's presidential primary in Virginia, a key Southern state rife with knotty demographics and shifting party loyalties.
Both camps view the Democratic vote in Virginia as their toughest matchup in the so-called Potomac primaries, a stretch of contests that also includes Maryland and the District of Columbia, where large and passionate constituencies among black voters and college students make Obama a heavy favorite.
Clinton aides have tried to dampen expectations, publicly stoking the prospect of an Obama sweep today. But strategic moves by both sides in recent days indicate that Virginia is positioned as Clinton's likeliest target of opportunity.
Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, said Virginia was "a state along with Maryland and others in February where Sen. Obama has significant advantages. We have long factored that reality into our planning."
Three Virginia polls released over the last few days, all putting Obama ahead of Clinton by at least 15 percentage points, gave credence to Wolfson's caution. The latest, issued Sunday and conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, showed Obama leading Clinton 53% to 37%. In surveys last year, Clinton held double-digit leads.
Despite those bleak signs, the Clinton camp has quietly mobilized to exploit "some unique opportunities," said Mo Elleithee, a national Clinton spokesman who was brought in to work on Virginia strategy. Even if Obama captures the popular vote in Virginia, Clinton aides say, Clinton hopes to carve off some delegates, who are chosen proportionately.
Clinton has rebounded with a surge of donations after she lent $5 million to her campaign treasury to make up for funding shortfalls. The New York senator's campaign began ramping up media ads Friday on Virginia television stations.
Stressing her focus on the shaky national economy, the ads were a late comeback to Obama's media blitz, which has dominated local airwaves since the middle of last week. And two days before her commercials began running, Clinton's automated "robo-calls" were peppering Democratic households in northern Virginia, also echoing her economic emphasis.
Both candidates have appeared across the state over the last five days, as has Clinton's main surrogate, former President Clinton.
