RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- On the eve of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign kickoff in Virginia, Democrats and Republicans struggled Friday to see which side could best besmirch the other's candidate in dueling news conferences.

With Obama and Republican Mitt Romney both desperate to win battleground Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and the state GOP scheduled a Friday morning "prebuttal" to the president's Saturday Richmond rally.

Not to be outdone, Democrats hastily scheduled their own news conference one hour earlier and directly across the street from GOP prebuttal.

As the Democrats started addressing a cluster of reporters in a parking lot, a large diesel backhoe cranked up outside the GOP event site, drowning the Democrats' words as a Republican operative hovered nearby.

And election day is still six months away.