This is pretty surprising to me and it is a pretty rare phenomenon for these states to even consider going blue:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/va/virginia_mccain_vs_obama-551.html
| RCP Average | 09/17 - 09/29 | -- | 49.0 | 46.0 | Obama +3.0 |
| InAdv/PollPosition | 09/29 - 09/29 | 436 LV | 51 | 45 | Obama +6 |
| FOX News/Rasmussen | 09/28 - 09/28 | 500 LV | 50 | 47 | Obama +3 |
| NBC/Mason-Dixon | 09/17 - 09/22 | 625 LV | 44 | 47 | McCain +3 |
| ABC News/Wash Post | 09/18 - 09/21 | 698 LV | 49 | 46 | Obama +3 |
| SurveyUSA | 09/19 - 09/21 | 716 LV | 51 | 45 | Obama +6 |
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/nc/north_carolina_mccain_vs_obama-334.html
| RCP Average | 09/13 - 09/28 | -- | 46.3 | 47.0 | Obama +0.7 |
| PPP (D) | 09/27 - 09/28 | 1041 LV | 45 | 47 | Obama +2 |
| Rasmussen | 09/23 - 09/23 | 500 LV | 47 | 49 | Obama +2 |
| Civitas/TelOpinion (R) | 09/17 - 09/20 | 600 LV | 45 | 45 | Tie |
| CNN/Time | 09/13 - 09/14 | 910 RV | 48 | 47 | McCain +1 |
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
