NORFOLK – With seven days to the election, Sen. Barack Obama spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Norfolk’s Harbor Park Tuesday evening.

Obama stayed on the safe ground of linking Republican rival John McCain to President Bush.

Video: VIDEO: Obama rally at Harbor Park

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He also ridiculed a remark made by a McCain adviser about health care coverage which suggested people would be worse off under a McCain health care plan.

Obama called it a "stunning bit of straight talk." The McCain domestic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Obama's team had deliberately taken his comment out of context. "This continues their disgraceful campaign," Holtz-Eakin said.

Tuesday’s rally was the first of two local appearances this week for the Democratic nominee for president. Obama will return to Hampton Roads in two days for a rally in Virginia Beach, scheduled for 5:45 p.m. at the Va. Beach Amphitheater.

Governor Tim Kaine was also on hand for Tuesday's rally.

It was be the Democratic presidential candidate’s fourth visit to Hampton Roads since August, and comes three days after his vice presidential pick, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware), spoke in Suffolk.

The Norfolk rally ended a long day on the stump for Obama, who targeted two key battleground states.

From a Pennsylvania rainstorm to two thunderous Virginia rallies, Obama revved up his followers, offering lofty promises of new politics and governing.

"This election, more than any other in my lifetime, represents a clear choice between the past and the future," the 47-year-old Democrat said, ribbing his 72-year-old opponent.

Dropping into the Shenandoah Valley early on Tuesday, Obama spoke to about 8,000 people who spilled onto a soccer field at James Madison University because the indoor site was too packed.

Inside, Obama found 12,000 more people, mostly students who were too excited to sit.

On a day when Republican grumbling about McCain grew and polls showed Obama maintaining his lead, the Illinois senator said he took nothing for granted. He went ahead with at an earlier outdoor rally in the Philadelphia suburbs despite a steady, chilling rain.

About 9,000 shivering people came out to hear him there. They stood in mud.

"I just want all of you to know that if we see this kind of dedication on Election Day, there is no way that we're not going to bring change to America," Obama told them all.

About 50 miles to the north, McCain postponed a rally because of similar weather.

McCain and Obama both converged on Pennsylvania, a vote-rich state where Obama leads but McCain remains hopeful of a turnaround. McCain is also trying to hang onto Virginia, which may well go for a Democrat for president for the first time in 44 years.

"No state is going to be more important than this state, right here, the Commonwealth of Virginia," Obama said on site.

In Pennsylvania, at Widener University, Obama ditched his suit and tie for jeans, sneakers and a raincoat. Still, shunning an umbrella, he got soaked.

Obama later changed clothes before resuming his events.

The election is in one week. Obama has returned to broad, uplifting themes of change in hopes of ending the campaign in the most positive light.

He promised better days "if we're willing to reach deep down inside us, when times are tough, when it's cold, when it's raining, when it's hard -- that's when we when stand up."

Gunning for the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the White House, Obama is almost exclusively targeting tossup red states, the label for the ones that trend Republican. Any one of them might tip him to victory. Combined, they could give him a dominant win.

Meanwhile, he can afford to spend little time at all defending Democratic blue states.

In Hershey, Pa., McCain and running mate Sarah Palin told an audience that they delight in fooling the pundits. "I'm not afraid of the fight, I'm ready for it," McCain said.

Obama's Pennsylvania rally was in the strategic Philadelphia suburb of Chester, an area that, like the state itself, could swing to either candidate.

The event was a cross-state bookend to Obama's appearance Monday in Pittsburgh, where he pledged to cut taxes for the middle class and help factory workers as much as company owners.  

According to the Associated Press, two polls taken last week show Obama leading McCain in Virginia.

The Virginia Commonwealth University phone poll (Oct. 20-22) surveyed 817 likely voters. It shows Obama with 51% and McCain with 40%. It calls Hampton Roads a strong region for Obama.

The Washington Post phone poll surveyed 784 likely voters (Oct. 20-22). It shows Obama with 52% and McCain with 42%.

Democrat Barack Obama carried on Tuesday with an outdoor rally at Widener University, outside Philadelphia, despite a cold, steady rain that made the temperature feel freezing.

Obama promised better days "if we're willing to reach deep down inside us, when times are tough, when it's cold, when it's raining, when it's hard -- that's when we when stand up."