Who will help whom in November?

I RISKED being rear-ended by a logging truck last weekend as I slowed to a crawl on Bath County's curvy roads. I was squinting at a half-dozen royal blue signs urging passers-by to vote for Republican John McCain for president and Democrat Mark Warner for U.S. Senate.

The signs were a conversation piece at the Virginia Bar Association's Senate debate. They bear the Web address of a new political action committee, Vote Bipartisan, set up by William and Mary student Bradley Hungerman.

Warner professes himself completely innocent in the affair, but both Senate candidates have taken pains to be associated with McCain.

Republican Jim Gilmore rolled out his McCain-Gil-more signs long before the former governor had secured his party's nomination. Most of Warner's name-dropping during the recent debate centered on the Arizona senator, a concerted effort to highlight similarities in the two candidates' energy policies.

Barack Obama has opened 24 campaign offices in Virginia and hopes to be competitive in a state that hasn't backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. But McCain's center-right brand of Republicanism is a close fit with the Old Dominion, and his military background will attract substantial support in Hampton Roads. He won't surrender Virginia soil without a fight.

Whichever presidential contender wins, Virginia voters are likely to continue their long tradition of ticket-splitting, and their maverick politics should work to Warner's benefit.

Warner and McCain share a common penchant for pragmatic problem-solving, allowing each to form bipartisan coalitions and build reputations as effective leaders.

Warner makes a subtle pitch to moderate Republicans and independents when he promises to be a "radical centrist" in the U.S. Senate. Asked if he considers a certain senator from Arizona to be a radical centrist, Warner replied, "The John McCain who ran for president in 2000 was."

That's a not-so-subtle reminder of the 2000 Virginia Republican primary, when George W. Bush defeated McCain with a decisive assist from then-Gov. Gilmore.

Gilmore rebuked McCain as "angry and divisive" and boasted to The New York Times that the candidate's Straight Talk Express campaign bus "ran out of gas in Virginia." The primary secured the nomination for Bush and won Gilmore a short-lived stint at the helm of the Republican National Committee.

Will Gilmore and McCain let bygones be bygones as they campaign this fall?

"John McCain has shown an abundance of reconciliation over the years," said Del. Chris Saxman, co-chairman of McCain's state campaign. "I can't imagine that there are any hard feelings."

Warner has already campaigned with Obama, and plans for more joint appearances could complicate efforts to appeal to McCain voters.

But Warner's overwhelming fundraising advantage over Gilmore and his lead in early polls suggest those McCain-Warner signs may prove to be more of a pick-me-up for the guy at the top of the ticket.

Christina Nuckols is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Reach her at (804) 697-1562 or christina. nuckols@pilotonline.com.