Obama, Biden to campaign for surging McAuliffe in Va.

WASHINGTON The White House is making a final-stretch push to put Democrat Terry McAuliffe into the Virginia governor's mansion.

Both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are planning to campaign with McAuliffe in the coming days.

Obama plans to campaign Sunday in northern Virginia, while Biden will kick off a volunteer canvassing kick-off on the election's eve Monday in Annandale.

Polls show McAuliffe is ahead of Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia race, one of two gubernatorial contests being held this year. The winner will replace outgoing Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.

First lady Michelle Obama as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have already campaigned for McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The event comes as a Washington Post/Abt SRBI poll out Tuesday shows McAuliffe opening up a 12-point lead over Cuccinelli, 51-39 percent. Last month, the poll showed McAuliffe up by 8.

Fifty-eight percent of likely Virginia voters view Cuccinelli unfavorably - up six points since last month - while 53 percent have a favorable view of McAuliffe.

One issue dogging Cuccinelli: the 16-day federal government shutdown and its negative effect on views of the Republican Party.

The Post's poll surveyed 762 likely Virginia voters from Oct. 24-27 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Sixty-five percent of likely Virginia voters now view the national GOP unfavorably; 57 percent think the same about the state Republican Party. About half view the state and national Democratic parties favorably.