obama won the state in '08 by taking most of its populated areas. can he pull off the same feat four years later? joining me is nbc news senior political editor, mark maurray. if we look at the spending for campaigning, there are three virginia locations among the top eight. so explain to all of us the stakes that virginia holds for each, for president obama and mitt romney. >> there's no surprise that the campaigns, the obama and romney campaign plus all the outside groups, are descending on the air waves in virginia. this is a very important state. in past elections, we talked about florida, talked about ohio. in 2012 it very well might be virginia. the stakes are for the obama campaign, if they are able to win virginia, that gives them so many more paths to 270 electoral votes. virginia plus colorado, plus nevada, that plus new mexico,