Decision Virginia

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Good Morning! We are waiting to see what will happen with the first presidential debate. John McCain and Barack Obama are currently in a staring contest, waiting to see who will blink first. If the debate does happen, we will have special coverage on NBC12 and DecisionVirgina.com, stay tuned to find out what we have planned.

In other news of the day:

We told you yesterday about a poll commissioned by NBC for the Today’s Show visit to Virginia which showed John McCain with a very small lead. I took a look inside the poll at some of the breakdowns to see if there was anything relevant to our area and found this- numbers that show what voters are saying in our viewing area:

QUESTION: If the 2008 presidential election were held today, would you vote for: (ORDER ROTATED) 

 - the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama & Joe Biden 

 – the Republican ticket of John McCain & Sarah Palin 

                    OBAMA    MCCAIN    OTHER  UNDECIDED   

STATE            44%          47%           1%           8% 

REGION                            OBAMA    MCCAIN    OTHER  UNDECIDED   

Northern Virginia                 55%             37%       1%           7%          

Shenandoah/Piedmont         36%             55%        -            9%          

Richmond Metro               39%            52%       1%          8%          

Hampton Roads                   44%             48%       1%           7%          

Lynchburg/Southside           41%             49%       1%           9%          

Roanoke/Southwest             36%             54%       1%           9%      

As it stands right now, the Richmond area is decidedly in the McCain column. While that is helpful for the Republicans, there are other parts of the poll that must be alarming. The Hampton Roads area, which is filled with military personnel and their families, shows only a four point lead for McCain. That shows that Barack Obama has made key gains in a region crucial to his chances of taking the commonwealth. You can see the entire breakdown of the poll here.

Ryan Nobles – bio | email

The “Today Show” is coming to Virginia this Wednesday to feature the Commonwealth as one of the states to keep an eye on in the upcoming election. Their tour started this morning in Philadelphia and it will take them to Florida and Ohio. I have had quite a few inquiries as to the specifics of their visit and here is what we know:

The show will be broadcast from the Colonial Capital in Williamsburg which is located on Duke of Gloucester Street. We aren’t sure yet, but we think they will be broadcasting live from outside the Old Capitol building.

Our morning crew will have complete coverage of the Today show visit on their Wednesday morning broadcast. If I will get any new information specific to the visit, I will share it with you.

In addition to the incredible attention that Virginia will be getting over the next few months, we will also be under an intense glare from the media as well. NBC announced today that the “Today Show” will broadcast a series of shows from swing states across the U-S. Virginia is among those states. 

Today will take an in depth look at the battle for Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia and Michigan leading up to the first Presidential Debate on September 26th. 

They will broadcast live from Norfolk on Wednesday September 23rd.