Students at Liberty University, in the battleground state of Virginia, are campaigning hard in the waning days of the presidential campaign for John McCain, according to this account of their fervent activism in The Washington Post.

To be a college Republican in the face of Obama Nation takes a measure of fortitude, the Post observes. (In a recent poll of college students in four battleground states conducted by CBS News, UWIRE, and The Chronicle, undergraduates favored Barack Obama over Mr. McCain by a margin of two to one.)

Even the hay bales on the rolling hills of the once solidly Republican city of Lynchburg, where Liberty is located, are painted red, white and blue with the name “Obama,” the Post’s story said. At Liberty University itself — which was founded in 1971 by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, who was a driving force in engaging fundamentalists in American politics — the first student Democratic club has sprung up, according to the Post.

Liberty officials have sought to encourage high turnout next week at the polls among the university’s students. The chancellor, Jerry Fallwell Jr., is canceling classes on Election Day and providing buses to drive students to the polls. Voter-registration forms were distributed in the dorms and classrooms to get both in- and out-of-state students registered for the general election.