In an October 23 article, The Washington Post's Robert Barnes and Anne E. Kornblut wrote that at two campaign events in Virginia on October 22, Sen. Barack Obama “promised to deliver the Commonwealth in the Democratic column for the first time since 1964” and then quoted Obama stating: “I feel like we've got a righteous wind at our backs.” Barnes and Kornblut's citation of the quotation immediately after their assertion that Obama “promised to deliver” Virginia made it appear as though Obama was indeed suggesting that victory in Virginia was inevitable. But, as is clear from the rest of sentence and the two immediately following, which were part of a speech he gave in Leesburg, Virginia, and which were left out of Barnes and Kornblut's article, Obama was making a different point: that victory will come only if he and his supporters “fight for every one of the 13 days to move this country in a new direction.”

Here is what the Post printed in its October 23 edition:

With an ear-splitting rally in the Richmond coliseum and a late-afternoon speech at a chilly park in Leesburg, Obama promised to deliver the Commonwealth in the Democratic column for the first time since 1964.

“I feel like we've got a righteous wind at our backs,” Obama told tens of thousands gathered on the rolling hills of Ida Lee Park. It was his eighth day of campaigning in the state since securing the Democratic nomination in June.

Here is what Obama actually said (compiled from a Breitbart.tv video clip of the first part of Obama's remarks and an MSNBC video clip of the second part):

And in 13 days, if you'll stand with me, then I know that we can win Virginia and we can win this election and we can finally bring the change we need to Washington. Now, that's the good news. I feel like we got a righteous wind at our backs here, but we're going to have to work. We're going to have to struggle. We're going to have to fight for every single one of those 13 days to move this country in a new direction.