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So it seems Sen. Barack Obama wasn’t kidding back during the Democrat presidential primary when he promised to invest in North Carolina during the General Election.

The Illinois senator’s campaign has put commercials on the air here this summer and opened offices across the state, including one on South Elm Street in Greensboro.

“We mean business here,” said Marc Farinella , the state director for Obama’s effort in North Carolina.

Farinella said there isn’t a standard Obama campaign playbook, although many of the things he talks most enthusiastically about are strategies associated with the presumptive Democratic nominee elsewhere.

“We’ll still have TV ads and radio ads and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But the thing that’s maybe different about what we’re doing is we’re very focused on communities and people talking to other people in their own communities.”

The idea, he said, is that people are more receptive to a message if it’s delivered by a friend or neighbor than if it’s simply blasted out over the airwaves.

In historical terms, it’s unusual for Democratic contenders to invest so much in North Carolina, a state that has reliably voted for the Republican presidential candidate since 1980. But a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports and echoed in other recent results showed McCain leading Obama by 3 percentage points, not the 10- or 11-point lead Republican candidates are used to here.

Carter Wrenn , a longtime political strategist who once worked for Sen. Jesse Helms , said he still expects McCain to win the state, but no longer considers that a lock.

“It’s getting close enough that a national trend or a stumble by Republicans or a brilliant move by the Democrats could turn it into a toss-up,” Wrenn said.

McCain has begun moving into the state. Already, a North Carolina Veterans for McCain group has held several events, and the Republican has aired commercials here as well.

In addition, the N.C. Republican Party is setting up eight “Victory Offices” across the state, including one already open in Raleigh and one planned for Greensboro in the coming month.

The Republican Victory Offices are a joint effort between the state and national parties as well as the McCain campaign, said Brent Woodcox, a spokesman for the state Republican Party.

“The job here is to get as many volunteers as possible and to get out the vote,” Woodcox said. Analysts say Republicans will likely rely on the party operations to do voter turnout and canvassing, leaving the McCain campaign with money for advertising.

Woodcox said the Republican effort will look similar to what it did for President Bush in 2000 and 2004.

“We’re doing the same things but on a grander scale,” Woodcox said. “I would definitely say there’s an unprecedented amount of attention being paid to the race on our side because it’s competitive.”

A spokesman for the McCain campaign said the Arizona senator would have his own operations on the ground in North Carolina soon and that the presence would intensify in the run-up to the Nov. 4 election.

Back in Obama’s camp, the Democratic candidate has recruited several players familiar with the state. Farinella has worked in North Carolina before, including serving as spokesman for Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue ’s campaign in 2004. Communications director Susan Lagana worked for Erskine Bowles ’ U.S. Senate campaigns, and deputy communications director Paul Cox most recently worked for U.S. Rep. David Price .

Obama will be back in the state, Farinella said, and would have had one more post-primary trip in if it weren’t for mechanical problems on a plane last month.

In terms of content, Farinella said voters should expect Obama and his staff to talk about a basket of economic issues, including trade policy and its effect on manufacturing jobs in North Carolina.

“We find ourselves talking about this issue quite a bit because so many people are talking to us about it,” he said. “It’s clearly a very significant issue here.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com