Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama arrives in Richmond this weekend for his first official campaign visit to the battleground state of Virginia, a hyped rally that is mobilizing both Republican and Democratic ground troops for the general election. But the fight for Virginia begins in earnest Wednesday in the Washington suburb of Chantilly, a warren of office parks and shopping malls near Dulles International Airport and just 10 miles from where the first major battle of the Civil War unfolded. Mitt Romney will campaign at a Chantilly trade show facility and begin his quest to reverse Obama's history-making win in 2008, when he became the first Democrat to carry the state on the presidential level since Lyndon Johnson did so in his landslide 1964 election.
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Both Obama and Romney will campaign in Virginia this week
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Obama took D.C. suburbs in 2008 but they swung GOP in governor's race
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Governor says area full of independents who are fiscally conservative
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One strategist calls the area "the great, classic suburban swing vote"
The @placeholder campaign won in 2008, in large part with organization.
McDonnell said @placeholder needs to hit as many parts of the state as he can between now and November.
"It's very hard for a Republican to win the presidency without @placeholder," he said.