North Carolina is among Barack Obama's second tier of targets.

In an interview with Politico, the Democratic presidential nominee's deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, said that they will focus on 14 states won by George W. Bush in 2004.

Hildebrand, in an interview, listed states in order of the margin by which Bush carried them: The closest four, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, Nevada, he said, would see "a ton of attention."

But he said Obama would campaign hard in ten more states, with the candidate and his top surrogates spending time on the ground and his campaign spending money in the air. Those are Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Georgia, and Alaska.

That likely means a few high-profile rallies and a regular drumbeat of ads here, but not a full-court press such as we saw in the Democratic primary.

If past experience holds, Obama might start to drop off in the polls closer to election day and pull out of the state entirely, as John Kerry did.

Barack Obama's voter registration drive is getting a last-minute push.

The Democratic presidential candidate announced today the "Carolina Change Challenge" to encourage voters of all ages to register.

The challenge has a special focus on 17 year olds who will turn 18 by November. In North Carolina, those voters will also be able to cast ballots in the primary on May 6.

Over the weekend, all 20 Obama field offices sent out more than 1,000 volunteers to register "thousands and thousands" of new voters, according to Deputy National Campaign Manager Steve Hildebrand.

"We've registered Democrats, we've registered Republicans, we've registered independents," Steve said.

The top 10 volunteers and the top five high-school students who register the most voters will meet Obama during an upcoming visit.

As part of the campaign, actress and singer Tatyana Ali, best known for her role as Ashley on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," will campaign for Obama on college campuses across the state Wednesday and Thursday.

North Carolina residents can register by Friday, April 11, or register and vote at one-stop sites between April 17 and May 3.