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David Plouffe, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, is urging the president's North Carolina supporters to write letters to newspapers thanking Rep. Bob Etheridge for voting for the health care bill.

"When your representative, Rep. Bob Etheridge, stood up and supported reform, it was a courageous step in the face of insurance-industry attacks – and it proves that your voice was heard," wrote Plouffe, who was Obama's campaign manager in 2008, in an e-mail to the president's backers.

"Now many in Congress face well-funded attacks by special interests in retaliation for standing in support of reform," Plouffe writes.

"But a big-money attack ad isn't nearly as powerful as the real story of an actual constituent – so we have to get our voices out there and make sure enemies of reform don't dominate the public discussion in these crucial moments," Plouffe wrote.

The infamous $400 haircuts that also undercut John Edwards presidential message of reducing poverty started with a tip from the campaign of then-candidate Barack Obama.

Reporters don't like to talk about where they get their stories. But Dome isn't giving away a big secret by revealing that during pitched campaign battle, campaigns will feed bad news about the other guy to reporters.

That's how the nation learned that Edwards, running on a platform of reducing the gap between rich and poor, billed his campaign $400 each for two haircuts.

Politico's Ben Smith wrote a brief item on the haircut which became a big national story and a running joke on late night TV. Smith's brief began with a tip from Obama's campaign, according to a new book by Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. Smith confirms it.

"We did much less of this [opposition research] than other campaigns did," Plouffe writes a bit self-servingly, "but there were times we indulged — it was our researchers who found John Edwards's infamous $400 hair cut expenditures."

It's maddening when people assume political reporting is driven by opposition research when you've actually dug up something yourself, but in this case, I'm in no position to contradict Plouffe's account.

Barack Obama's campaign manager says he's banked votes in North Carolina.

In a conference call with reporters this morning, David Plouffe noted that nearly 39 percent of registered voters have already cast their ballots here.

He said that 19 percent of all the Democrats who have already voted here have never voted in a general election before, noting that there are a lot more new registered Democrats in the state than Republicans.

Plouffe argued that early voting results in states such as North Carolina mean that McCain has that much more ground to make up in the next four days.

"The die is being cast as we speak," he said. "Senator McCain on Election Day is not going to just have to carry the day but carry the day convincingly."

He later added that the campaign expects its turnout efforts to boost Senate candidates such as Kay Hagan, but that was not their primary goal. 

David Plouffe, campaign manager for Barack Obama, said this afternoon that the campaign is committed to turning the Southern red states of Virginia and North Carolina blue in November.

“Virginia and North Carolina, from day one, have been key to our strategy of winning the White House and it remains so today,” Plouffe said in a teleconference with reporters from North Carolina and Virginia, reports Rob Christensen.

Plouffe said there was a massive voter registration effort underway in those two states. He said that during the last weekend in September, 100,000 doors will be knocked on in North Carolina. He said early voting should work to Obama’s advantage.

The McCain campaign’s decision to go on TV in North Carolina, he said, was another indication that the state is competitive.

“We think its a coin flip right now," Plouffe said. "We think it will break our way during the next seven and half weeks.”

Barack Obama moved some of his Georgia staff to North Carolina.

According to an article in Politico today, this state still remains among the second tier where the Democratic presidential candidate hopes to remain competitive, although he has given up on Georgia.

Earlier in the summer, the Obama campaign named 18 battleground states as prime advertising targets.

Obama recently stopped running ads in Georgia, a state the campaign originally identified as a potential battleground. Some Georgia field staff was moved into North Carolina, said Plouffe. 

The campaign is still more focused on nearby Virginia than North Carolina.

DENVER - Barack Obama's campaign manager said today that the campaign will soon return to the airwaves in North Carolina and other battleground states.

David Plouffe told reporters the campaign had pulled ads in most battleground states during convention week, reports Jim Morrill.

"We weren't going to be anywhere this week," Plouffe said. "We'll be back very very soon in North Carolina on the air."

The Obama campaign has spent about $2 million so far in the state, mostly on TV advertising.

Plouffe called North Carolina "a central battleground." He said with its relatively large African American population and large numbers of voting age young people, the state is one of several Southern targets, including Virginia, Georgia and Florida.

Each of those states went for Republican George Bush in 2004.

David Plouffe says North Carolina is "front and center" in Barack Obama's campaign.

In response to a question from Dome in a conference call today, Obama's campaign manager said that the state is not in a second tier of battleground states.

"North Carolina is something that we think is highly competitive and very winnable," he said.

He said that he views states like South Carolina, Mississippi or Kentucky as second-tier states where Obama will be sending staffers but not yet spending a lot of money in search of an upset. In North Carolina, he said that increased turnout of young and African-American voters will help.

"We'll be fighting as hard as we can in North Carolina," he said.

Dome had read this earlier interview with Obama's field manager as saying that North Carolina would not receive as much attention as Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio and Nevada.

John McCain may go on the air in North Carolina soon.

In a conference call with reporters, Barack Obama's campaign manager said that he's heard McCain will begin airing ads here soon.

During a discussion of the Obama campaign's strategies, David Plouffe repeated his contention that North Carolina is one of a number of states that could put him over the top.

He argued that McCain will have a hard time in states that John Kerry won in 2004, which means Obama would only need to pick up a couple more states to win the Electoral College. As an example, he cited a combination of Iowa and North Carolina.

"Virginia and North Carolina are two states that have not been part of the presidential dialogue much in the last few cycles," he said. "We are in a strong position right now in both of those states."

Plouffe also rebutted claims that Obama's recent 18-state ad buy — which included North Carolina — was not an attempt to drain McCain's coffers.

"There's not a head fake in any of these states," he said.

The New York Times seconds the "Let It Bleed" theory.

In an article today on Hillary Clinton's concession, the Times notes that Barack Obama will kick off a tour on the economy in North Carolina, which hasn't gone for a Democratic presidential candidate since the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence.

Republican strategists in the article say that Obama has also inquired about ad rates in 25 states, including North Carolina. (By contrast, George W. Bush advertised in 17 states in 2004.)

Still, the newspaper quotes unnamed sources seconding Dome's theory that North Carolina may be a feint:

Mr. Obama's aides said some states where they intend to campaign — like Georgia, Missouri, Montana and North Carolina — might ultimately be too red to turn blue. But the result of his making an effort there could force Mr. McCain to spend money or send him to campaign in what should be safe ground, rather than using the resources in states like Ohio.

It also quotes Obama campaign manager David Plouffe saying that the primary campaign left them with stronger get-out-the-vote operations in smaller Republican states where turnout could make a difference, such as Alaska.

That would presumably not include North Carolina.