We have a lot more evidence that there are competitive races in both the 5th and 9th district.

We’ll begin with the 9th district and a new Survey USA poll. It shows challenger Republican Morgan Griffith leading Democrat Rep. Rick Boucher 47% to 46%.

I’m not necessarily buying the numbers in part because I think SurveyUSA has been off on many of its polls this fall. At one point they had Sen. Hurt leading Congressman Perriello in the 5th district by 23 points. No other private or public poll that I have had access to has shown the lead that large and neither campaign or national party is acting like Hurt’s lead is that large.

But, that doesn’t mean the poll doesn’t have an impact. It clearly shows that this is a competitive race. It will help the Republicans and Griffith campaign raise money in the final stretch of this race. And, it will help define the media narrative of a race too close to call. All of that is critical for Morgan Griffith.

Now to the 5th district where it was announced today that President Obama will be campaigning with Tom Perriello in Charlottesville on Friday. This is a huge development for both campaigns.

For the Perriello folks, it clearly shows that the Democrats believe this race is winnable and they must have private polls to back that up. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be investing the president’s valuable and limited time to a hopeless cause.

I’ve said for weeks now, don’t look at the polls as much as the party’s allocation of resources. Up until this point, that has shown itself in money and campaign ads and there has been a lot of cash spent on behalf of Tom Perriello… in the millions.

Now, we have an even more high profile example of those resources being spent on Perriello.

But, the headlines Obama will bring to the Perriello campaign come with a price tag. And, this is where the Hurt folks come in. Obama’s visit is likely to drive up the excitement on the Republican side and help Hurt’s narrative that Perriello is too closely tied to the Obama/Pelosi machine.

We’ve had two big developments that could have huge implications on both races. What a day it has been… and there are only seven more to go to election day!