Kaine is one of Obama's most ardent backers.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – With vice presidential speculation reaching fever pitch, Barack Obama's campaign said Tuesday that the Democrat will campaign in central Virginia later this week alongside V.P. contender Gov. Tim Kaine.

Kaine and Obama will host an invitation-only town hall meeting on Thursday in Chesterfield County, a suburb of Richmond. Kaine's sturdy performance in the traditionally conservative Richmond suburbs helped vault him to the governorship in 2005.

Kaine, the former mayor of Richmond, is widely regarded as one of the three top candidates for a slot on the Democratic ticket, along with Delaware Senator Joseph Biden and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.

Obama has scheduled a campaign event for Saturday at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, where he kicked off his presidential bid — but the campaign would neither confirm or deny whether the candidate will appear with his running mate.

Obama will also stump in the commonwealth on Wednesday with Virginia’s other two Democratic stars, Senator Jim Webb and former Governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner, who is scheduled to keynote the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

(CNN) — In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, Jessica Yellin reports on a new, bestselling book and the goal of its author — to defeat Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

The Obama campaign announced Wednesday that former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic Convention in Denver.  Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider takes a look at what the choice of Warner says about the Democrats' plans to contest Virginia.

As the CNN Election Express heads towards Colorado, Tom Foreman reports on the contest shaping up in Indiana, another battleground state.

Finally, Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley talks with Suzanne Malveaux about Obama, Mark Warrner, Colin Powell and Oprah Winfrey.

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Both the Obama and McCain campaigns see Virginia as a battleground.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Democratic National Committee e-mailed a memo to national reporters Monday outlining why the state of Virginia and its 13 electoral votes could fall into Democratic hands in November, a sign that both the party and the campaign of Barack Obama genuinely believe they can turn the state blue for the first time since 1964.

The memo, written by the Democratic Party of Virginia, comes on the same day John McCain holds a series of fundraisers in central and northern Virginia, and a week after Obama chose the state to kick off his general election campaign.

"John McCain travels to northern Virginia today, a region of the state where the population growth and shift in voting trends have changed the landscape statewide in favor of Democrats in recent years, putting the Commonwealth into play for the presidential election," the memo argues.

"The nation's eyes will be on Virginia this election season as the Commonwealth sits poised to support a Democrat for President for the first time in 44 years," it reads.

The note suggests that Obama will rely heavily on riding the coattails of three of Virginia’s popular Democratic leaders: Gov. Tim Kaine, Sen. Jim Webb and senate candidate Mark Warner, the former governor.

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Watch Sen. Obama receive an unusual gift in Virginia Thursday.

(CNN) - Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, signaled Thursday that he really means business when it comes to health care reform.

An elderly African-American man presented Obama, the first African-American to secure the nomination of a major party, with a gift. Charles Edwards, who told Obama he was 95 years old, gave Obama a long maple walking stick.

WATCH Obama's reaction to the gift.

"It's beautiful," Obama told Edwards. "And, if members of Congress don't pass my health care bill, I'm ready," Obama said wielding the stick as supporters laughed and cheered.

"I'll whup 'em," he joked. "They better not mess with me. I'll have that stick."

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Obama's campaign sees Virginia as a 'pivotal' state.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Newly minted Democratic nominee Barack Obama will kick off his general election campaign on Thursday with a pair of campaign stops in Virginia, signaling that the Illinios senator thinks he can turn the once solidly-red state into a Democratic pick-up this fall.

The day will culminate with an evening rally in northern Virginia, where Sen. Jim Webb, often mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate, will make his first campaign appearance with Obama.

Virginia has not voted for a Democrat in November since Lyndon Johnson took the state in 1964, but for more than a year, Obama's campaign has cited the state's 13 electoral votes as part of their argument that he can re-shuffle the electoral map this fall. Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the commonwealth will play a "pivotal role" in the general election.

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(CNN) – John McCain and Barack Obama swept the “Potomac primaries” – Tuesday’s contests in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. – as the march to the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions continues.

In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider takes a look at exit polling data from Tuesday’s votes.

Even before Obama’s sweep of the region’s primaries, Hillary Clinton had already taken steps to shake up her campaign. John Roberts speaks with former Clinton aide Lisa Caputo about the next phase of the former first lady’s campaign. And GOP long shot Mike Huckabee explains why he’s staying the race.

Finally, Chief National Correspondent John King breaks down the voting patterns in Tuesday’s contests, and takes a look at whether Huckabee can still win enough delegates in the remaining primaries to capture the Republican nomination.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.

–CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Track the Virginia Republican primary results county-by-county by clicking here: Virginia.

McCain walks to his office from the subway on Capitol Hill today after a series of votes.

(CNN) – John McCain has been struggling to win over his party’s conservative base – and 1 in 4 Virginia GOP primary voters say they’ll be somewhat or very dissatisfied if McCain is the Republican nominee.

But Hillary Clinton actually fares worse on that question than McCain: more than 1 in 3 Virginia Democratic primary voters say they will be dissatisfied if she is her party’s nominee. Barack Obama does best in this respect: fewer than 1 in 5 primary voters would be unhappy if he is the Democratic candidate this fall.

–CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

According to exit polls, Virginia Democratic primary voters who did not identify themselves as Democrats were more likely to vote for Obama.

Virginia Democratic primary voters who did not identify themselves as Democrats were more likely to back Barack Obama, according to exit polls.

One out of every five Democratic primary voters were independent — and those voters chose Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, 67 to 32 percent. Seven percent of the voters in that contest were Republican voters who decided not to vote in their own party’s primary – they chose Obama by an even larger margin, 71 to 25 percent over Clinton. Self-identified Democrats also chose Obama, 59 to 20 percent.

Roughly one out of every five voters in the GOP primary were independent as well – but those voters did not vote for the party’s likely nominee, John McCain, who had been expected to benefit from their support. Instead, independent voters backed Mike Huckabee over McCain, 43 to 34 percent, with Ron Paul pulling in 19 percent. Republicans also broke for Huckabee, but by a much narrower margin, 47 to 45 percent. Virtually no Democrats participated in the Republican contest.

– CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

Marilyn Hart casts her ballot in the primary election at the Ray of Hope Baptist Church, Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Business was brisk at polling places in Virginia and Maryland Tuesday where primaries could answer key questions in the Democratic and Republican nomination races.

The District of Columbia voters are also participating in the so-called "Potomac primaries" — named for the river that separates Virginia and Maryland and flows past the nation's capital, Washington.

At stake in the primaries are 238 Democratic delegates and 119 total GOP delegates. Polls in Maryland and the District of Columbia close at 8 p.m. and in Virginia at 7 p.m.

In Maryland, turnout was anticipated to be about 40 percent, which is above normal according to Ross Goldstein, deputy administrator for the state's Board of Elections.

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Watch a clip from Sen. Obama's speech Saturday night.

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) — On a night when Barack Obama scored a trio of dominant wins in Nebraska, Washington and Louisiana, Obama and rival Hillary Clinton were already looking ahead to the next big electoral prize up for grabs: Virginia.

Both candidates tipped their hats to the state’s Democratic brass on Saturday night by jetting into Richmond for the Virginia Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson Jackson fundraising dinner.

There are 63 pledged delegates at stake here on Tuesday, when Maryland (37 delegates) and the District of Columbia (19 delegates) will also vote.

Buoyed by his wins, Obama emphasized to the audience at the Siegel Center in downtown Richmond that he is the most electable Democrat in the race.

“We’ve done better with independents in almost every single contest we’ve had,” he said to the largely pro-Obama audience. “It’s because we’ve won in more red states and swing states that the next Democratic nominee needs to win in November.”

“If I am your nominee,” he said and added, “This is one Democrat who plans to campaign in Virginia and win in Virginia this fall.”

A few yards from the stage, a quintet of defiant Clinton supporters stood during Obama’s entire speech holding up Hillary signs.

Clinton, arriving after a day of campaigning in Maine before the caucuses there Sunday, spoke earlier in the evening. The arena floor was packed tight with state Democratic donors and other supporters in suits and evening gowns. Most seemed to be gearing up for Obama’s speech later in the night, and the stadium seats and bleachers ringing the venue, open to anyone buying a ticket, were also jammed with young Obama supporters.

Her remarks were built around the economic themes that have characterized her recent stump speeches on the trail. On Friday, she launched a pair of television ads in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. that focus on jobs, education and the mortgage crisis.

“I am so ready to see Virginia in the winning Democratic column in November,” Clinton told the audience. She also thanked them “for sending Jim Webb to the Senate” in 2006. Webb upset incumbent GOP Sen. George Allen in a tight race that year.

Clinton peppered her speech with nods to Virginia’s racial history, quoting Harriet Tubman and making sure to note that, “Virginia was the first state in America to elect an African-American governor.”

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Doug Wilder is backing Sen. Barack Obama.

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) – Doug Wilder, the nation’s first black governor and a prominent backer of Barack Obama, told reporters Saturday that Bill Clinton has not yet atoned for his attacks on the Illinois senator during the South Carolina primary.

“Barack Obama is not a fairy tale,” Wilder, now the mayor of Richmond, said before the state’s annual Jefferson Jackson dinner, where Clinton and Obama were set to speak later in the evening. “He is real, the real deal as some would say. He is not just a good speaker. Jesse Jackson is Jesse Jackson. Barack Obama is Barack Obama.”

Wilder remains an influential voice among African-Americans in Virginia and throughout the South. He appeared at a press conference before the fundraiser with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, also an Obama supporter, and former Gov. Mark Warner, who is now running for Senate.

Wilder pointed to Obama’s overwhelming victory among black voters in the Georgia primary as evidence others shared his lingering resentment over the former president's remarks. “It’s not just me feeling that, any number of people feel that.”

“Talking on radio shows and talk shows, people are asking the very question you ask,” he said. “A time has come and a time goes. Mr. President has had his time.”

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

Huckabee will speak at Thomas Road Baptist Church on Sunday.

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) — If it's Sunday in a primary state, it must be time to meet Mike Huckabee at your local church.

But the place of worship Huckabee is visiting tomorrow isn't just any old Baptist church.

His just-released schedule lists a 10:55 a.m. speaking appearance at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Observers of the American evangelical movement will recognize the venue as the once-obscure 35-member congregation founded in 1956 by Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Before his death last May, Falwell transformed Thomas Road into a thriving megachurch and the cornerstone of his influential network of Christian conservatives, headquartered in Lynchburg.

Though John McCain and Falwell made public amends in 2006 after McCain had famously labeled him and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance," Falwell's family members have not endorsed any Republican presidential hopeful. (Falwell's son Jonathan said he had spoken to McCain on the phone in recent days, but was not ready to endorse him.)

Though McCain remains the favorite to win the Virginia primary on Tuesday, Huckabee, the ordained Baptist preacher, will get a symbolic boost out of the appearance and is likely to get the sort of warm reception that has greeted him in pulpits around the country during his underdog presidential bid. An estimated one-third of Virginia primary voters call themselves evangelical Christians, according to the Washington Post.

Huckabee will also speak at a church in the Richmond suburbs late Sunday.

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) – Oh, what a tangled web political endorsements weave.

Volunteers for Hillary Clinton's campaign in Virginia, who are taping up Clinton signage for tonight's Jefferson-Jackson dinner here, are groaning to state Democratic party officials that Barack Obama's volunteers corps has more hands on deck for the event this evening because, team Clinton claims, volunteers for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine are also here working on Obama's behalf.

Kaine endorsed Obama last year and will likely speak glowingly about him tonight, but the Obama and Clinton campaigns reached an agreement to only allow a fixed number of volunteers into the event site to put up signs before a security sweep of the area. Gov. Kaine's supporters were not, apparently, factored into the rules.

The Clinton volunteers said they saw Kaine staff and volunteers putting up "a few" Obama signs. However, CNN spied another Kaine staffer who was taping up Clinton signs. And despite their boss's preference, Kaine's staffers, including many of the men and women who worked on his 2005 campaign, are split between supporting Obama and Clinton.

The Clinton volunteers eventually wrangled in four more of their people to make up for the crucial sign-taping disparity. They appeared to be closing the gap as security entered to examine the event site, Virginia Commonweath University's basketball arena.

Ultimately, former Gov. Mark Warner, now the front-running candidate to fill John Warner's soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat, is winning the "visibility" game: he has more signs up than anybody.

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

McCain's ad 'Trust' goes after Romney for his past statements on Ronald Reagan.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – John McCain's campaign has begun rotating three television ads in the February 12 state of Virginia, CNN has learned.

The ads — "Trust," "True Conservative" and "Never Surrender" — have all run in early voting and Super Tuesday states. Virginia's GOP primary is an open one, meaning Democrats and Independents can also cast votes, a factor that could benefit McCain. There are 63 winner-take-all delegates at stake.

McCain and Barack Obama are the only presidential candidates currently running TV spots in Virginia.

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

From left, Gov. Tim Kaine, then-Senate candidate Jim Webb and former Gov. Mark Warner watch results come in for Webb's race.

(CNN) — Recently, on George Allen's new Web site, GeorgeAllen.com, the former Republican senator from Virginia listed some words of wisdom from legendary college football coaches like Knut Rockne and Woody Hayes.

Coming from Allen's keyboard, one quote stands out, from Ralph "Shug" Jordan of Auburn: "Always remember … Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David."

In the summer of 2006, Allen held a monster lead over Jim Webb in the Virginia Senate race. One famous YouTube video and several campaign slip-ups later, Webb is now in the Senate wrangling over Iraq spending bills while Allen is at home in Virginia, blogging about football.

– CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby

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