And they're off

Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin at Politico report that Barack Obama and John McCain are working hard in the battleground states. Unfortunately for John McCain, the battleground states are places that Democrats rarely win.

Obama heads out on Friday to:

Virginia (which has not gone Democratic since it voted for LBJ in 1964)

Missouri (which has not gone Democratic since it voted for Clinton in 1996)

North Carolina (which has not gone Democratic since it voted for Carter in 1976)

Florida (which has not gone Democratic since it voted for Clinton in 1996)

Meanwhile, McCain is ratcheting up his spending on advertisements in places like Colorado and Missouri.