Posing as a mere “issue advocacy” operation, the “Real Truth About Obama” group’s ad attacks Mr. Obama’s character and trashes the candidate’s nuanced position on abortion. To spread these lies, the group wants an injunction against the Federal Election Commission’s disclosure and spending rules, instituted after the 2004 campaign.

No Democratic presidential candidate has won Virginia since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and the selection of Sarah Palin has improved Mr. McCain’s chances of carrying the state. Even so, Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, still clearly sees an opportunity here, and has opened more than 41 offices in the state.

Tellingly, the McCain campaign has announced no large rallies with Senator McCain alone, and a senior McCain aide said Wednesday that the campaign was considering keeping Gov. Palin and Mr. McCain together for appearances more often than is usual for running mates — perhaps more so than any ticket in recent times.

Senator Obama’s advisors said that combative edge was essential to blunt any progress Senator McCain was making as he sought to encroach on Mr. Obama’s trademark message of change. But Mr. Obama’s remarks are curiously reminiscent — right down to that mocking tone — to words he spoke nearly a year ago when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton suddenly tried to swipe the mantle of change and Mr. Obama demonstrated a fight that many had doubted he could muster.

Inaccurate media releases by the registrar of elections warned that students registering to vote could no longer be claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns, a statement the Internal Revenue Service says is incorrect, and could lose scholarships or coverage under their parents’ car and health insurance.