I was concerned Warner would be so concerned about winning 60-65% of the vote, that he wouldn't risk 3-5% of that vote by making a hard stand for Obama and our congressional candidates.  It would be awfully selfish not to do EVERYTHING in his power to help Obama carry Virginia.  That includes backing him up on tough statements that could hurt Warner.

Not to mention, what about his campaign's 3 million in the bank?  I'm willing to bet they don't plan to spend down to zero.  100k or 250k could go a long way to help one of our Virginia candidates or even help get 60 Democratic Senators.

We'll see what sacrifice Warner is willing to make.

Larry Sabato has an updated map with Obama at 305EV, but with VA still a toss up.  He talks about the reasons at the end of the post.  Lets make sure VA turns blue on Nov 4.

One note about Virginia: We have preserved its toss-up status despite a series of polls showing Obama winning by double digits (such as yesterday's CNN-Opinion Research Corporation survey, with Obama at 53% and McCain at 43%). It's not that we think the polls are necessarily wrong. In fact, the Crystal Ball was the very first analyst website to call Virginia a toss up last spring, at a time when the McCain campaign denounced the very notion, and listed the state as "Solid Republican". Still, we have covered Virginia closely for almost forty years. We have yet to talk to a single experienced political observer in Virginia who believes that the state isn't relatively close. Almost all say, if Obama wins Virginia, it will be by two or three points--certainly not ten. So while Obama probably leads in Virginia today, as he does in almost all our remaining toss-ups, we're going to hold off tilting the state for now. This represents an abundance of caution, perhaps, but wise from our perspective. There is plenty of time to color in the whole map before Election Day.

Not that my support matters much for Mark Warner but I will cast my vote for him based on the level of support he shows for Obama.

by the lack of cooperation between Obama and Warner.  I really think both would benefit from joint appearances and ads (although Warner probably doesn't feel he needs the help).  There is no doubt Warner will get elected, but his job as Senator would be a lot easier working with an Obama administration.

Warner also needs to do everything he can in close Congressional races, like helping Glenn Nye defeat Thelma Drake.

I had an email conversation with Warner's press guy about this and he was quite defensive.  Glad to see Warner's going to help out Obama here a bit more.  He really has a lot of pull with Virginia voters and could make a difference.

...there's certainly no reason not to, that's for sure. On the positive side, Mark Warner could be a true hero in a tight race, helping to clinch Virginia and the presidency for Barack Obama. I know I'd be forever grateful!