McCain's Brother Says Virginia is "Communist"

From the Washington Post:

Sen. John McCain's brother, Joe, made an apparent joke today that Democratic-leaning Alexandria and Arlington are "Communist country."

Speaking at an event in support of his brother in Loudoun County, Joe McCain said, "I've lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country," according to a Washington Post reporter who was there. Joe McCain, who like his brother is a veteran of the Vietnam war, then apologized, but he drew laughter from the GOP faithful at the event.

The offensive remark will likely not go over well with local voters. But the comment from John McCain's brother was also dumb for another reason:

John McCain owns a condominium in Arlington County. The McCain campaign's national and Virginia headquarters are also located in Arlington County.

Virginia remains a competitive battleground state between Barack Obama (D) and John McCain (R). According to Virginia election officials, voter registration is surging and expected to heavily favor Obama:

State elections officials say 306,215 Virginians have registered to vote since the beginning of the year. Board of Elections Secretary Nancy Rodrigues says that's a 7 percent increase in total voters. Nearly 4.9 million Virginians are now registered to vote as of Thursday. The pattern of new registrations appears to favor Democrat Barack Obama, and the largest percentage increase was in heavily Democratic Richmond.