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With his decision to pull out of Michigan, John McCain will have more resources to devote to holding the Republican states he needs get to 270 electoral votes, including Virginia. And — would you look at that — just yesterday McCain and the Republican National Committee announced the opening of 12 new offices in the Old Dominion, giving the campaign a total of 21 offices in the state.

But the Virginia Board of Elections today posted new numbers showing the GOP nominee facing an unusually challenging climate in the state, which George Bush won with 54 percent of the vote in 2004. In September, the board reports, 106,150 people registered to vote in the state; combined with deaths and people moving out of the state, the net increase for the month was 101,737.

That is more than double the number of new registrants in August, and it places Barack Obama’s campaign ahead its goal of making sure 150,000 Virginians got added to the rolls in the months since the primaries ended (on top of the 142,000 Virginians who registered in the first five months of the year).

As it now stands, there have been 163,000 voters added to the rolls during the general election period, for a total of 305,000 new voters since the start of the year. And a few days still remain before the Oct. 6 registration deadline. That compares with 210,000 new voters who were added between the start of 2004 and Oct. 1 of that year. There is no way of knowing which way the new voters lean politically, since Virginia’s registrations are nonpartisan. But one can speculate about their inclinations based on where they’re coming from — and a disproportionate number of the new voters reside in Democratic strongholds.

 

If Sarah Palin flails in any way close to how badly she flailed during the Katie Couric interviews, tonight is going to be one serioulsy entertaining night. Yes, it’s finally here - the night when Sarah Palin will be pinned behind a podium to face-off against Joe Biden on real issues rather than her "I’m a hockey mom so I represent you" generalizations.

The 90-minute debate will air on PBS and all the major networks. If you have plans tonight and your TIVO is out of comission, it will be replayed by CNN on Friday morning at 9 a.m. It can also be viewed live at www.mydebates.org.

As Haliq News eloquently put it: "Palin’s awkward silences, inability to answer simple questions with specificity and tendency to dodge inquiries with folksy, tail-chasing palaver — strikingly reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s well-known verbal floundering, and captured artfully by Tina Fey — have become the stuff of pop culture. If Biden can manage to just leave her alone, it would seem that Palin has plenty of rope and knows how to tie her own knots." Will you be playing Palin Bingo or the VP debate drinking game? Will you be betting on the election? Get your presidential election odds in the Bodog Sportsbook now.

 

Republican presidential candidate John McCain conceded battleground Michigan to the Democrats on Thursday, GOP officials said, a major retreat as he struggles to regain his footing in a campaign increasingly dominated by economic issues.

These officials said McCain was pulling staff and advertising out of the economically distressed Midwestern state. He also canceled a visit slated for next week. Michigan, with 17 electoral votes, voted for Democrat John Kerry in 2004, but Republicans had poured money into an effort to try to place it in their column this year.

In a campaign now unfolding across more than a dozen states, the decision allows McCain’s resources to be sent to Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida and other more competitive states. But it also means Obama can shift money to other states like Virginia, Colorado and North Carolina where he is trying to eat into traditional Republican territory.

The move underscored McCain’s troubles on the economy, which he has acknowledged is not his strongest subject. It also underscored his struggle to beat an opponent who has the money to compete in many states President Bush won four years ago. Polls show Obama has pulled ahead or tied McCain in many of those states.

As Nov. 4 approaches, both sides are adjusting their strategies daily to find the best state-by-state path to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.

Obama already has abandoned efforts in Alaska, Georgia and North Dakota, but the Democrat has succeeded in making traditional Republican strongholds Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia competitive. Both sides are battling it out in those states, where public polls show Obama ahead or tied.