Virginia could be a bellwether for other primaries & for how some usually GOP-leaning moderate states could be opportunities for the Dems this fall.

From The Wall Street Journal:

South of the Potomac River, in the shadow of Washington, D.C., Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton scrap for an advantage in a state that could be a bellwether for other primaries -- and for how some usually Republican-leaning moderate states could be opportunities for the Democrats this fall.

With the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide victory in 1964, Virginia has voted for the Republican in every presidential election since 1952.

But since re-electing President Bush in 2004, Virginia has elected its second consecutive Democratic governor, voted out an incumbent Republican senator, ended the GOP's control of the state Senate and this year is widely predicted to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. John Warner with the Democrat who started the trend in 2001 -- former Gov. Mark Warner (no relation).

Polls support the once radical prospect that the capital of the Confederacy could anoint a woman, or a black man, as its choice for president. A survey taken in October, long before the Democratic race gained momentum, showed that Virginia voters preferred the next president to be a Democrat by an 11% margin, with only 4% undecided.

For the primary tomorrow, Virginia absentee voters requested nearly twice as many Democratic ballots as Republican ballots, according to the state elections board. Mr. Obama, with 52% support, held a 15-percentage-point lead over Mrs. Clinton in an InsiderAdvantage poll of Virginia voters on Thursday, with 10% undecided.