Republican presidential candidate John McCain makes his first post-primary trip to North Carolina Monday when he holds a town hall meeting in Wilmington.

McCain will speak at Cape Fear Community College's Schwartz Center. Doors open at noon, Jim Morrill reports.

It will be McCain's first public appearance in the state since May and follows by a week a visit to Greenville by his running mate Sarah Palin.

McCain's wife, Cindy, will be the grand marshall of the Bank of America 600 tomorrow in Concord.

"John McCain is excited about bringing his Country First message to the Tar Heel state on Monday," said spokesman Mario Diaz. "Hardworking families in North Carolina are supporting John McCain and pushing him to victory in November because he has a plan to get our economy back on track by keeping our taxes low and controlling government spending."

McCain's opponent, Democrat Barack Obama, has made three visits to North Carolina in the last two weeks. Polls show a tight race in the state.

Tickets for Monday's event are available at the Wilmington Victory Office starting at noon Saturday.

The New York Times says North Carolina is a toss-up.

The newspaper had previously not included the state in its round-up of battlegrounds and had it leaning towards John McCain on its electoral map, but that changed today: 

North Carolina, a state that is normally is about as red as they get, is being moved into the toss-up column. Mr. Obama has poured tons of money into the state, and is spending a lot of time there, and Republicans are growing increasingly anxious that he might take it away from them. 

Meantime, Congressional Quarterly also moved the state into its "No Clear Favorite" category today.

At the outset, McCain had the edge — the GOP has won 9 out of the past 10 contests — but his comfort margin has evaporated. Obama can count on a large African-American turnout. 

The Cook Political Report, MSNBC's editors, Republican consultant Karl Rove, and editors of The Atlantic Monthly also consider North Carolina a toss-up.  

The Rothenberg Political Report still calls the state "Leans McCain," but his ratings haven't been publicly updated since late September.

Cindy McCain will be at Lowe's Motor Speedway Saturday.

The wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain will participate in the NASCAR Bank of America 500 in Concord. She will be the "honorary race director."

This will be her third visit to the state. McCain previously attended a fundraiser in Raleigh in mid August and U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms' funeral in early July.

She has not given an interview to North Carolina media yet.

Three North Carolina doctors called on John McCain to release his health records.

In a conference call organized by a liberal movie company this afternoon, Dr. Wolfgang Liedtke of Duke University, Dr. Don Richardson of Brevard and Dr. Susan Murphy of Boone said that the Republican presidential candidate needed to share more information about his health.

In late May, about 20 reporters were allowed to look at McCain's records for about three hours.

But Liedtke, a clinical neurologist, said he still had questions about the severity of McCain's skin cancers and his vascular health, based on reports that the Arizona senator takes a daily aspirin to prevent blood clots and Ambien CR for insomnia.

"Somebody who is on Ambien that is not someone you do not want to take the 3 a.m. call because you might not be able to wake them up," he said.

He said Democrat Barack Obama should release all of his records as well, citing concern over the Illinois senator's history of smoking.

Brave New Films, which sponsored the call, has also created videos and a Web site featuring the signatures of 2,872 doctors calling for the records to be released.

Barack Obama is spending more on ads in North Carolina.

According to the latest figures from the Wisconsin Advertising Project, the Obama campaign spent $1.2 million in N.C. advertising between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, while John McCain's campaign spent $148,000, Peter St. Onge reports.

That's about an 8-to-1 advantage in spending for Obama.

Nationwide, Obama spent roughly $17.4 million to McCain's $10.8 in the same time period. In 15 states the project labels as "battleground" — including North Carolina — the spending is closer, with Obama at $8.1 million to McCain's $6.5 million.

Of course, any political veteran will tell you money doesn't win elections, but it allows you to get more of your message out, unfiltered, and in Obama's case lets the campaign have a bit more control over how he is introduced to voters.

Obama N.C. campaign spokesman Paul Cox declined to talk about advertising strategy, but he said that Obama's success is due to more than money.

"One of our greatest sources of strength is our grassroots organization," says Cox, pointing to the campaign's 45 offices and 17,000 active volunteers in North Carolina. "We are reaching out to virtually every area of the state. It would be very difficult for the McCain campaign to catch up to us..."

The McCain campaign did not return a call for comment.

A summary of polling results on North Carolina's presidential race from Pollster.com.

Barack Obama is in the lead in another poll.

According to a recent survey by the conservative Citivas Institute, the Democratic presidential candidate had 48 percent, Republican John McCain had 43 percent and Libertarian Bob Barr had two percent.

"The amount of money Obama is spending on television in North Carolina is finally paying dividends," said executive director Francis De Luca. "Obama's ability to capitalize on the financial crisis and to outspend McCain in North Carolina gives him a strong advantage."

De Luca said Obama is getting 37 percent of the white vote, what it considers the threshold for him to win North Carolina.

The survey of 600 likely voters was conducted Oct. 6-8 by TelOpinion Research of Alexandria, Va. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

City inspectors have shut down the building housing Pat McCrory Raleigh headquarters.

An Oct. 2 inspection of the Velvet Cloak Inn on Hillsborough Street found the building to have bare electrical connections, an inoperable fire alarm and a nonfunctioning sprinkler system, David Bracken reports.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate had been running his local headquarters out of the former hotel, which is being remodeled into condominiums.

"We've temporarily closed it and our Raleigh staffers are working from home until the hotel reopens," said spokeswoman Amy Auth.

She said that supporters wanting to pick up signs can get them across the street at the state Republican headquarters. They can also contact the Charlotte office at 704-714-4344.

The Velvet Cloak is owned by Raleigh developer David M. Smoot, who has appeared as a surrogate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Press conferences for the McCrory and McCain campaigns have been held at the hotel.

Update: Auth said that the McCrory campaign office has moved into room 368, a part of the building that is not closed for business.

That's news to the city. "Everything's supposed to be closed," said Larry Strickland, director of the inspections department for Raleigh. "I'll have our inspectors check on it."

Doug Heye thinks John McCain should go Down East.

In a column on National Review Online, the veteran Republican political consultant argues that McCain's best chance in this state is to win eastern North Carolina, "home of voters known as 'Jessecrats,' conservative Democrats who generally vote Republican.

The McCain campaign was smart to send Governor Sarah Palin to Greenville, the largest city — and largest media market — in northeastern North Carolina. Swing voters in the region have shown a tendency to support Republican candidates. In 2004, the Northeast gave Senator Richard Burr his second highest margin of swing voters in the state — second only to his home region of the Triad.

Heye suggests that McCain copy the primary campaign playbook of Hillary Clinton, who targeted conservative Democrats who read the Dunn Daily Record.

"Although Clinton did not win North Carolina, her campaign can serve as a road map for McCain to find the conservative Democrats and swing voters he needs to carry the state," he writes.

The Republican National Committee is using Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden against Barack Obama.

The automated calls feature a recording of an independent voter named "Don" who urges people to vote for a presidential candidate who is "ready on day one."

That was New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's slogan during the Democratic primary.

"According to Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, 'The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training,'" the narrator says.

That line also comes from the Democratic primary, when Biden was criticizing Obama as being inexperienced.

As a coordinated call between John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee, the call is also required to mention Congress, although it does not appear to be aimed at any particular North Carolina race.

More after the jump.

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