Kerry has never led here, but a new SurveyUSA poll confirms other recent polls: It’s close. The poll, with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points, shows that Kerry has closed an 11-point statewide gap that Bush enjoyed in September. Bush’s margin is now 50 percent to 46 percent.

The last Democrat to carry Virginia was LBJ, but the Kerry campaign is very active on the ground in Northern Virginia– the most densely populated part of the state.