I suppose one reason Obama may be doing better in VA is that its economy is one of the top 2-3 states in the country.
I had that thought, too. Outside of states with good economies because they have a) grain b) oil, or c) both (hi, ND), it's the states with the highest levels of educational attainment that are weathering the recession best. We'd expect to see similar leans in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and possibly Maryland.
Well, of course MA and MD are too solid to be of much interest in judging where things are going, but we did just see Colorado turn in some surprisingly Democratic-friendly results in the recent election.
Actually according to this map Colorado and Virginia aren't in that great a shape, but I guess its all relative:
