Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech in Asheville on Sunday night will kick off a wild week of campaigning across North Carolina that will put all four major candidates on the trail in the state.
     
Palin’s speech – and the events that follow – indicate the urgency of winning North Carolina and its 15 electoral votes. She’ll be followed by her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, on Monday. He has two scheduled campaign stops just a few days after he finished a three-city bus tour of the state.
     
The two presidential hopefuls have also scheduled events of their own. Republican John McCain will be in Fayetteville on Tuesday. Democrat Barack Obama will come on Wednesday to a yet-to-be-determined location. His wife, Michelle, will hold a separate event in the state.
     
The heavy focus on North Carolina in the crucial final days of the race indicates just how valuable the state is to each candidate as the election approaches and polls narrow. North Carolina hasn’t voted for a Democrat since 1976, but Obama has moved the polls with a heavy investment in the state and the aid of changing demographics and a large bloc of black voters.
     
Both parties have focused much of their time getting supporters to the polls before Election Day. Early voting began Oct. 16, and already more than 1 million voters have cast a ballot at one-stop sites.