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.

Barack Obama's campaign says Hillary Clinton needs to win North Carolina.

“I have heard the Clinton campaign talk about big battleground states,” David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, told reporters this morning. “North Carolina is a big battleground state.

"By their own definition, it would appear they need to win North Carolina and win it by a wide margin.”

Polls show Obama has a double-digit lead over Clinton in North Carolina.

Plouffe said Clinton would need to win 57 percent of the pledged delegates in the remaining state primaries to come within 100 delegates of Obama’s lead.

Plouffe also said he expected North Carolina to be competitive in the fall, and polls show that Obama stacks up better against Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the Tar Heel State.

Barack Obama has snagged two North Carolina superdelegates.

Campaign manager David Plouffe will hold a conference call with reporters this afternoon to announce two new endorsements.

Charlotte City Councilwoman Susan Burgess has already endorsed Hillary Clinton, while U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, former Democratic Party director Everett Ward, party vice chair Dannie Montgomery and lobbyist Joyce Brayboy have endorsed Obama.

That leaves 14 more superdelegates. Two are add-ons who will be named at the state convention. One is party chairman Jerry Meek, who has said he will remain neutral.

That leaves Gov. Mike Easley; Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller, Bob Etheridge, David Price and Mel Watt; Buncombe County Commissioner Carol Peterson; Statesville attorney David Parker; Employment Security Commission employee Muriel K. Offerman and Cumberland County Commissioner Jeanette Council. 

Obama will be in Raleigh and Greenville tomorrow, so today's announcement is likely strategically timed to give him a "momentum" story just as he comes to town.

Former President Bill Clinton is expected to campaign in Charlotte on March 17, one of the first signs that North Carolina’s presidential primary will be receiving national attention.

Clinton is scheduled to campaign in Charlotte on St. Patrick Day, attending a fundraiser and perhaps other events on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, reports Rob Christensen.

The visit by the former president comes at a time when the campaigns of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are beginning to prepare for North Carolina's May 6 primary. North Carolina holds the second largest prize of delegates, after Pennsylvania, of any state holding a primary between now and the Democratic National Convention in August.

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, was in Raleigh two weeks ago to begin organizing the Obama effort here.

About two dozen Democrats gathered in the law offices of Kirby & Holt at noon today to listen to a one-hour talk by David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Barack Obama.

Several participants said there was no explicit pitch for the backers of former Sen. John Edwards. In fact, Plouffe went out of his way to say he understood that some Edwards backers may not be ready to make another choice yet, Rob Christensen reports.

But there were a number of major Edwards backers attending including Chapel Hill businessman Michael Cucchiara, who gave $2 million for the poverty center that Edwards started at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Asked if he was ready to back Obama, Cucchiara said: "No comment."

But Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, another Edwards supporter, said he was enthusiastically backing Obama.

Foy said the mesage from the meeting was that Obama would be a strong candidate in the May 6 Democratic primary, and would also compete here in November if he was the nominee. Plouffe said Obama could attract enough independents and young voters that he would help all the North Carolina Democrats on the ticket, Foy said.

Others attending the meeting included former House Democratic leader Phil Baddour of Goldsboro, state Rep. Bill Faison of Orange County, Raleigh businessman John Crumpler, former Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf, former state Democratic executive director Scott Falmlen, Democratic consultant Morgan Jackson, and state Senate candidate Josh Stein, who managed Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign.

The event was held in Edwards' former law offices. But Kirby, Edwards' former law partner and longtime friend, was not present. His office said he was trying a case in court.

David Plouffe was in town today.

The campaign manager for Barack Obama said he was helping organize and raise money for the upcoming May 6 primary, Rob Christensen reports.

"North Carolina could end up being very important in the nomination fight," he told Dome.

Interviewed at a fundraiser in the law offices of David Kirby in Raleigh, Plouffe said that the primary is only nine weeks away and Obama campaign needs to begin organizing in the state as soon as possible.

He said the trip today was not about courting John Edwards, although he acknowledged the campaign is interested in the former North Carolina senator's endorsement.

Plouffe said that there is a very good chance that North Carolina could be in play in the general election as well, if Obama is the nominee. No Democratic presidential candidate has won North Carolina since 1976.

He also had an organizational meeting at the headquarters of Raleigh public relations firm Capstrat, which is headed by Ken Eudy, an Obama supporter.

Steve Lerner, an investor and friend of Eudy's, was escorting Plouffe today.