Romney sent an army of surrogates into Virginia to counter the president’s fast-paced, two-day swing. The Republican’s campaign bus circled Obama’s events, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani made an appearance, and scores of local Republicans lined the road with banners and posters to protest Obama’s appearance at a Northern Virginia high school Saturday.

The focus on Virginia’s cities, suburbs, mountains and military bases captures dramatically how varied and unpredictable the state is despite the president’s historic victory here in 2008. Both candidates see great opportunity in the political geography of the Old Dominion, and neither is certain of winning it.

“Let me just say this,” Obama told a crowd of more than 3,000 packed into a four-block stretch of downtown Roanoke late Friday. “If I win Virginia, I’m going to get four more years. That I can say with some confidence.”