Barack Obama is celebrating the 4th of July in Butte, Montana, attending a parade and picnic. It's a state that usually gives its three electoral votes to a Republican. Only two Democrats have carried Montana since 1948. Republicans typically take it for granted and Democrats usually write if off. But this year, Obama is spending a sizeable amount of time and money to try to win it.

John McCain after his trip to Colombia and Mexico is back home in Arizona. He's planning to spend the Fourth of July holiday at the family compound outside Sedona, with no campaign events on his schedule for the next few days.

The McCain Website hopes you have a "safe and happy 4th of July" and asks that you remember the troops.

With just three electoral votes and its reputation as a red state, Montana rarely sees presidential candidates in the summer before a general election. Republicans usually take the state for granted, while Democrats don't even try to contest it.

But Obama has been spending a sizable amount of time and money on Montana, hiring a state director and staff while running TV ads detailing his background and qualifications. Montana is among fewer than 20 states the campaign is targeting early.

"Montana is considered one of the very competitive states," Obama spokesman Caleb Weaver said.

Obama is spending the Fourth in Butte, the hometown of motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, where drinking is allowed in the streets.

"He is the kind of candidate that has shown he can run competitively in these types of states because of his ability to attract new people to the process," Weaver said. "Sen. Obama is an independent figure. He is very attractive to the independent-minded spirit of Montanans."

Democrats have made gains in the state in recent years, electing a populist as governor and ousting a longtime Republican U.S. senator. But in 2004, even as Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer was winning, Democrat John Kerry lost Montana by 20 percentage points.

Montana has a long tradition of voting Republican in presidential elections _ Al Gore also lost by about 20 points. Bob Dole defeated Bill Clinton in 1996. Clinton did win four years earlier _ but only with about a third of the vote, after independent Ross Perot split the conservative vote.

The last Democrat to win the state without the help of a spoiler was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, when he trounced Barry Goldwater _ who, like this year's Republican candidate, John McCain, hailed from Arizona. But unlike McCain, Goldwater was marginalized as extreme.

Before that, the last Democrat to win Montana was Harry Truman, in 1948.

"It's unprecedented for a Democrat to come in and say that Montana is one of the 15 states we can win," said political scientist Craig Wilson, a longtime observer of Montana politics.

No other Democratic presidential candidate in memory has committed to Montana like Obama has this campaign season. His campaign promises "significant" investment in the state. And Democrats are buoyed by the possibility of a presidential campaign helping them with party building and get-out-the-vote efforts this fall. Continued...