Obama tours GOP-leaning South

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Barack Obama used a big American flag and a custom-built race car as backdrops here Wednesday, signaling his intention to challenge John McCain in what has been reliably Republican territory.

As Democrats await their presumptive presidential nominee's choice of a running mate, Obama tried to keep the focus on his Republican rival as he campaigned through the rural South.

Obama sampled locally grown peaches and vinegar-soaked barbecue as he barnstormed across NASCAR country to the birthplace of the Moral Majority. Obama planned to end the day in Lynchburg, where Jerry Falwell launched the evangelical movement that helped elect Ronald Reagan to the White House in 1980.

At every stop, Obama emphasized the economic uncertainty that he blamed on the Bush administration. In Martinsville and at a town-hall-style meeting the night before in Raleigh, N.C., local workers who lost their jobs in plant closings introduced Obama. ...