Although Webb and some key Democrats remain neutral, Kaine and a solid cast of state senators and delegates endorsed Obama early on -- a marked contrast to Maryland, where Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and other top Democrats were working for Clinton.
Political veterans say Clinton's best shot is to fuse city-dwelling Latino voters, government workers and retired military voters in northern Virginia and horse-country female voters in the southern part of the state.
"Virginia is much closer than Maryland is, in demographic terms, to the border and Southern states she carried last week," said Thomas F. Schaller, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and author of "Whistling Past Dixie," a book examining Democratic prospects in Southern states.
Along with independents, Obama's choicest targets are black voters in Hampton Roads and Richmond, young professionals in northern Virginia, college students and white male "NASCAR Democrats" in coal country.
"The guy's operation is pretty organized for an insurgent," said Daniel Palazzolo, a University of Richmond political science professor. "I have no doubt their Virginia team is in full swing."
Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Obama's Virginia campaign, said, "We just plugged into a grass-roots operation that was already up and running."
Griffis noted that with little prodding from the national staff, Obama's Virginia supporters amassed 20,000 signatures in November to put him on the ballot -- twice the number needed.
"That gave us a good idea of what we could build on," he said.
stephen.braun@latimes.com
