Gubernatorial hopeful Brian Moran lashed out at the presidential campaign of Arizona Republican John McCain this week, criticizing a spokeswoman for the campaign of using "divisive tactics" and "Karl Rove politics." Moran’s comments came in response to a Oct. 18 appearance on MSNBC by McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer, who argued that Democrats from the District have moved into Northern Virginia and skewed the election returns in the region.

"But the rest of the state — real Virginia, if you will — I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain’s message," Pfotenhauer said on live television. "The real Virginia I take to be part of the state that is more Southern in nature, if you will."

For many Democrats, Pfotenhauer’s comments echoed the infamous comments of former Sen. George Allen two years ago when he hurled a racial invective at a campaign volunteer for his Democratic opponent. At a campaign rally in Breaks, Va., Allen twice called S.R. Sidarth "macaca," a slur aimed at people of Indian ancestry. The footage became a YouTube sensation, and was widely credited with bringing down the political career of the former governor.

"Welcome to American," Allen said to Sidarth, a native of Fairfax County. "And the real Virginia."

Now, as Election 2008 winds into the final dizzying days of the campaign, Moran and other Democrats are using Pfotenhauer’s comments as part of their closing argument to Virginia voters. At rally on Alexandria campus of the Northern Virginia Community College, the Northern Virginia Democrat ripped into the McCain campaign for pitting one region of the commonwealth against another. Moran, who will be running for governor next year, charged that Republicans were not interested in finding solutions to the problems faced by voters in Northern Virginia.

"Barack Obama once said that there was no red America or blue America — there is the Untied States of America," Moran told students in the newly completed science-and-technology wing of the Bisdorf Building. "And I say there is not real Virginia or fake Virginia — there is only the commonwealth of Virginia."

SINCE JANUARY, Moran noted, Virginia has added 436,000 new voters. According to officials with Virginia State Board of Elections, this is the largest surge in voter registration that the commonwealth has ever experienced. Moran predicted that the surge in voter registration would benefit Democrats, with nearly 40 percent of the newly registered voters under the age of 25. Students who came to the Bisdorf Building Monday night to hear Moran were enthusiastic about the potential for young voters finally becoming an important force in American politics.

"I believe that young people are going to play a primary role in this election," said Tifarah McDanile, a 23-year-old Army veteran who came to Monday’s event to hear Moran’s plans for providing benefits to Americans returning home from combat zones. "The last few years have changed everything, and young people are more engaged now than they have ever been."

As to whether or not students at Northern Virginia Community College are part of the "real Virginia," in Pfotenhauer’s words, students expressed frustration with the repeated attempts by Republicans to cast the region as some kind of political outlier. After Moran was finished, several of the students denounced the McCain campaign for trying to drive a wedge between voters instead of building bridges between them.

"It’s offensive," said Mustafa Michael, a 28-year-old student studying business administration. "I think this is going to come back and bite the Republicans."

SINCE PFOTENHAUER delivered her comments on live television over the weekend, her comments about "the real Virginia" have taken on a life of their own. Blogs immediately pounced on the statement, and Democrats began drafting press releases in an effort to frame the debate similarly to Allen’s "macaca moment" two years ago. For some, Pfotenhauer’s remark about the "real Virginia" had racial undertones.

"I took it as code words for saying that black people are not real Virginians," said Susan Kellom, chairwoman of the Alexandria Democratic Committee. "I have no way of knowing what was going on inside her mind, but I can just say what my reaction was: I was furious."