A week is a long time in politics, and money doesn't count for everything, either. But GOP operatives surely are lying awake at night fretting over the fact that John McCain has pulled out of Michigan -- and is facing a pitched battle in the Old Dominion, which has been Republican in every presidential race since 1964.

Barack Obama certainly seems intent on ending the streak. He is spending a quarter-million dollars a day on TV spots in Virginia. McCain is spending $30,000. Obama has 200 paid staffers in the state; McCain is planning on ramping up his paid Virginia cadre to . . . 50. Obama and running mate Joe Biden have made a dozen Virginia appearances in the past few months. McCain and Sarah Palin have made one. (Two more appearances are scheduled.)

Maybe Camp McCain thinks it has the state sewn up. Maybe that's precisely why it doesn't.

And speaking of portents: A member of the Editorial staff recently visited New York for a weekend of reinvigoration and reproach. In every public venue -- restaurants, church, theater, subways, buses, coffee shops, book stores -- he encountered New Yorkers sporting Obama buttons. He did not see a McCain item during his entire stay. A poster in the window of a favorite seafood shack described New York as solid for Obama but urged passers-by to volunteer in "swing states." Four years ago John Kerry won the Empire State by 1.4 million votes. Obama's margin could approach 2 million, or top it. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and other mega-states promise similar results. Where will McCain find the votes to counter such an edge?