Might the Obama campaign have acted prematurely when they pulled out of North Dakota a little over three weeks ago, when the polls there looked pretty bad for them?

Three polls over the last few days have now shown that Obama is now either ahead or tied in a state that hasn't voted Democratic since the LBJ landslide of 1964:

• Research 2000, released today: Obama 45%, McCain 45%, compared to a 53%-40% McCain lead from mid-September, shortly before the Obama camp packed up and left.

• DFM (D), released yesterday: Obama 44%, McCain 41%, within the ±4.4% margin of error.

• Fargo Forum, released on Monday: Obama 45%, McCain 43%, within the ±4% margin of error.

As of this afternoon, Pollster.com scores the state as Obama 44.6%, McCain 42.7%.

This is a state that voted 63%-36% for President Bush in 2004, and the Obama campaign had previously given up hope here. If the Obama campaign's internal polling shows anything like this, we may see a rethinking of their decision to pull out.

McCain In Speech Today: "We've Got Them Just Where We Want Them"
In his stump speech today in Virginia Beach, John McCain will seek to fire up his supporters in the face of the latest bad polls numbers. "My friends, we've got them just where we want them," McCain will say, according to pre-released excerpts.

Barack Obama In Ohio, Michelle In Minnesota, Biden In New Hampshire
Barack Obama is campaigning today in Toledo, Ohio, where he will be making a major speech on the economy, scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET. Michelle Obama is in Minnesota, with a 1 p.m. ET event in Rochester and a 5 p.m. ET rally in St. Paul. Joe Biden is in New Hampshire today, with a 10 a.m. ET event in Rochester and a 1:30 p.m. ET event in Manchester, and will then head back to Delaware to address the state Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at 7 p.m. ET.

McCain And Palin In Virginia, Plus McCain In North Carolina
John McCain and Sarah Palin are holding a joint rally at 11 a.m. ET in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The two will then split off for different events: McCain has a 2:15 p.m. ET rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Palin has a 2 p.m. ET rally in Richmond, Virginia.

Hillary In Pennsylvania Today
Hillary Clinton is on the campaign trail again today, with events in Pennsylvania in support of the Democratic ticket. Hillary will hold a "Conversation With Working Families" at 11 a.m. ET in Philadelphia, and will then hold a campaign rally in Horsham at 12:30 p.m. ET.

NYT Profiles Obama-Slanderer Andy Martin
The New York Times has a detailed profile today of Andy Martin, the man believed to have originated way back in 2004 the smears against Barack Obama as being a secret Muslim. The picture that emerges is astoundingly odd: Martin is a vocal anti-Semite who says an Obama presidency could threaten Israel, and is trained to practice law but has not been licensed to practice on mental-health grounds -- though he has been a prolific filer of lawsuits.

Virginia GOP Chairman Compares Obama To Osama Bin Laden
Virginia GOP chairman Jeff Frederick compared Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden, while addressing McCain campaign volunteers on Saturday, on the grounds that "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon." In a statement, the McCain campaign only partially backed away from Frederick's remarks: "While Barack Obama is associated with domestic terrorist William Ayers, the McCain campaign disagrees with the comparison that Jeff Frederick made."

Poll: Obama Ahead In North Dakota
A new Forum Poll in North Dakota gives Barack Obama a 45%-43% lead, within the ±4% margin of error, in a red state that hasn't voted Democratic since the LBJ landslide of 1964. All the other recent polls have given McCain the lead here, but it does seem possible that the economy is pushing even this state towards the Democrats.

A new Rasmussen poll suggests that Barack Obama may actually be putting North Dakota in play, a state that hasn't voted Democratic since 1964 but has found itself targeted by the Obama campaign's advertising.

The numbers: McCain 47%, Obama 46%, within the ±4.5% margin of error.

The state has only three electoral votes, but those are three votes that the Republican can usually count on winning very easily. In 2004, George W. Bush beat John Kerry here by a 63%-36% margin.

Obama Increases Big-Money Fundraising Events
The Obama campaign is stepping up its focus on big-money fundraisers, with the candidate set to go to a dozen events over the next two weeks -- many of them requiring a $30,000 per person donation to the joint fund set up by the Obama camp and the DNC. This greater focus comes from both the recent decision to opt out of public finance, and from the influx of Hillary Clinton's big-money donors.

Obama In Historically-Red North Dakota Today
Barack Obama will be holding a town hall meeting today in an unlikely place: Fargo, North Dakota. This state hasn't voted Democratic since the 1964 Lyndon Johnson landslide, but has been placed on the Obama camp's target list thanks to polls showing a close race. Obama will be joined by the state's top three Democrats: Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, and Congressman Earl Pomeroy.

John McCain In Mexico Today
John McCain will be wrapping up his tour of Latin America today, meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and stopping at the Basilica de Guadalupe, a Catholic holy site.

Obama Courts Military Times Editorial Board
Barack Obama met yesterday in Colorado with the editorial board of the Military Times, a part of his outreach to the traditionally Republican military constituency. This is a demographic where John McCain is counting on a big margin, thanks to his biography and hawkishness, but Obama has also done well in fundraising among this group.

Obama Camp Considering Shorter Convention
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Obama campaign is floating the idea of cutting the length of the Democratic convention by one day, due to the Republican convention being set to begin just a few days later. The hypothesis is that ending the convention a day early would given Obama an extra day of bounce in the polls, allowing him to build up a bigger lead before the GOP convention.

Poll: What Is Patriotic?
Ahead of Independence Day, a new USA Today/Gallup poll asks respondents what they consider to be patriotic. Supporting U.S. foreign policy is seen as patriotic by 80%, while protesting is also seen as patriotic by two thirds of respondents. The question of protest has a serious partisan divide -- Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to view it as a sign of patriotism.

Obama goes negative on Hillary in a new mailer in North Dakota, charging that Hillary once supported NAFTA and flip-flopped to oppose such trade deals as a presidential candidate. It also claims she puts "Washington thinking and Washington interests first."

Click on the images below to enlarge:

In an extended rebuttal, the Hillary campaign rightly points out that the source cited for the NAFTA claim doesn't prove that Hillary was a "strong supporter" of the trade deal, though she was obviously a member of the Clinton administration when it passed. Full response here.

Late Update: The Obama campaign's fact-check on Hillary and NAFTA is here.

The nationalization of the Democratic primary race continues. Hillary Clinton has a new ad running in various February 5 states, depicting a soft-voice Hillary speaking directly to the viewer — in emotional tones somewhat reminiscent of "The Tears" — about how hard she will work to help people:

Meanwhile, Barack Obama has a new ad in the Super Tuesday state of North Dakota, a heavily Republican state that also happens to have an all-Democratic delegation to Congress. The ad features senior Sen. Kent Conrad, who endorsed Obama back in December: