hburgnews.com

Two weeks out from a major election, the McCain campaign is pushing hard to get out the Republican votes. U.S. Sen. John Warner and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham arrived late to the McCain HQ on Neff Avenue this afternoon, giving Sen. Mark Obenshain and Rep. Bob Goodlatte more time to address the roughly 120 Republican faithful.

To kick things off, a campaign organizer rallied the crowd with a call for volunteers, and praise for Goodlatte’s stand against the bailout (a bill which senators Warner, Graham and McCain voted for) to several hearty “amens!”

Obenshain took the mic, reinforcing the case for a last-minute get-out-the-vote (GOTV) surge, referring to the successful GOTV efforts among college groups. He said that the “groups on campus are working hard to turn out Democrat voters, not Republican voters.”

Although CNN has already projected Virginia for Obama, the speakers conceded nothing. Goodlatte picked up, stumping hard for McCain, and even harder for Sarah Palin. Judging from the applause in the room, supporters seemed to be more enthused about the latter. The congressman repeated his calls for offshore drilling and energy from coal.

The retiring Senator John Warner arrived at 1:30. He gave accolades to Mark, Kate, and Richard Obenshain, whom he originally ran against and eventually succeeded in 1978. Warner had a slightly different take on the upcoming election. “[It's] not just the United States that’s depending on this election, but the whole world. It’s a global community,” Warner said.

Although Graham, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, may have been an hour late to the event, he was an early McCain supporter. So, it was no surprise to see him in Harrisonburg, going to bat for the Republican presidential nominee. Graham, who represents a solid red state, voiced his concern that Virginia appears to be turning blue. “This idea that Virginia is in play doesn’t sit quite right with me,” Graham said.

He asserted that Sen. Obama is approaching the office of president from “the far left lane of American politics,” and criticized Obama for his tax policies. “He will spend your money faster than you can make it,” Graham added.

Graham concluded his speech with a recent quote from Sen. Joe Biden:

“Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy [...] The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.”