RICHMOND, Va. -- Barack Obama will kick off his fall campaign Thursday with a direct challenge to Republican John McCain in Virginia, a state that hasn't supported a Democrat for president in 44 years but is now a battleground.

In one of his first acts after clenching the delegates necessary to win the Democratic nomination, Obama will appear in Bristol and Prince William County.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, an Obama adviser and the first governor outside Obama's home state of Illinois to endorse him, will join Obama for at least one of the rallies.

"How sweet it is," Kaine said in a telephone interview. He said he has been encouraging Obama to compete aggressively in the state based on his overwhelming Virginia primary victory in February.

"What I've been hearing from outsiders and from insiders is that Virginia is in play, and we want to campaign here and we want to win here," he said.

Obama's visit comes four days before a scheduled Monday visit by McCain to Virginia, a state the Democrats haven't even contested for decades in presidential races.

McCain's Virginia campaign co-chairman, Del. Chris Saxman, said Obama's liberal Senate voting record will be a hard sell in Virginia.

"Yeah, Virginia's more in play this year than it has been, but John McCain's going to appeal to a broad coalition of voters that I don't believe Barack Obama will appeal to," said Saxman, R-Staunton.

The last Republican presidential candidate to lose Virginia was Barry Goldwater in 1964. Most since then have carried Virginia comfortably.

In Bristol, Obama has scheduled a town hall meeting over the noon hour at Virginia High School. Thursday evening, Obama will headline a rally at the Nissan Pavilion, a 25,000-seat outdoor concert amphitheater near Manassas.