Battleground North Dakota? Obama Challenges, But McCain Holds Edge in Prairie

— -- Could the battle for the White House extend all the way to the badlands of North Dakota? A few months back, the Obama camp thought, 'You Betcha!'

North Dakota, the land where buffalo roam but the votes haven't gone to a Democratic presidential contender since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, was one of 18 states in which Obama originally aired television ads and it's a split ticket state (two Democratic senators and a Dem congressman despite its red reputation).

Sen. Barack Obama decisively won the state's February caucus over Sen. Hillary Clinton and traveled to Grand Forks to speak to a Democratic gathering in April. He returned again on July 3 to hold a Veterans event in Fargo, the state's largest city.

But, despite Obama's effort, in the latest ABC News assessment, we've got North Dakota as "leans Republican" and potentially tipping toward a "solid Republican" rating as the fall campaign begins to take shape.

Sen. John McCain can't quite yet count North Dakota in his column but check back to see when ABC News is headed to the prairie to take stock of the race.