Following a tradition of past Democratic presidential candidates, Barack Obama is a planning a major rally in the liberal stronghold of Madison on Thursday in an effort to win Wisconsin's 10 key electoral votes.

"Senator Obama's going to continue to focus on the economic issues that are important to Wisconsin families," Matt Lehrich, an Obama campaign spokesman in Wisconsin, said of the candidate's expected speech. "It's all economy all the time."

The visit by Obama would come less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election and would be the first to Madison since the Illinois senator held a February rally at the Kohl Center that pulled in 17,000 attendees ahead of the state's Democratic primary. It comes as recent polls have shown Obama with a double-digit lead in this traditional swing state and as his campaign has sought to press an advantage in Republican-leaning states like Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri.

Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said the visit shows the race between Obama and Republican nominee John McCain is still close.

"Their being here shows that the Obama campaign knows that Wisconsin is still very much in play," Jefferson said. "It looks like the Obama campaign isn't quite as convinced as a lot of the state media that Wisconsin is in the bag."

Past Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry held a huge rally in October 2004 in Downtown Madison with rocker Bruce Springsteen, which drew an estimated crowd of 80,000 and national attention. Democrat Al Gore also held a rally in late October of 2000 that drew some 20,000 attendees. Both the Kerry and Gore events were held within blocks of the Capitol.

Lehrich declined comment on whether the expected Obama rally could reach the size of the Kerry event.

Lehrich confirmed the campaign was seeking a street-use permit for the rally but wasn't able to say where it would be held. But a highly placed Obama campaign adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized speak on behalf of the campaign, said the rally will be held near the Capitol at noon to allow workers to attend during their lunch breaks.

State Democratic Party chairman Joe Wineke said the six days of notice was more planning time than the party has historically gotten for presidential candidate visits so close to Election Day. That gives the Obama campaign in Wisconsin, the state party and unions organizing the event more time to prepare, Wineke said.

"This is a great day," Wineke said. "The pressure is going to be on to do something on the order of '04, but we don't know the details yet."

Still, Wineke said, "Madison will turn out — they always do."

Obama's last trip to Wisconsin was an Oct. 1 visit to La Crosse. McCain swung through Waukesha, Mosinee and La Crosse last week.

Jefferson said he's unsure if McCain, running mate Sarah Palin or any major supporters will campaign in Madison before the Nov. 4 election.

McCain didn't campaign here prior to the state's Feb. 19 primary, but he told the State Journal he would visit the capital city before the general election. A state party spokeswoman has said the last GOP presidential candidate to visit Madison was former Sen. Bob Dole, who made a brief airport stop in 1996.

— State Journal reporters Dean Mosiman, Ron Seely and Mark Pitsch contributed to this report.