http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI

On August 11, 2006, a young Indian-American man, S.R. Siddarth, was recording Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) at a campaign event. When Allen, noticing Siddarth, said, “This fellow over here, Macaca, or whatever his name is,” the senator sunk his political career. Allen, whom many had speculated would run for president in 2008, lost not only his Senate seat (by a mere 7,231 votes), but also any shot at the presidential nomination.

The former senator’s racist gaffe may have galvanized an increasingly powerful demographic. This past Monday (see coverage by ABCNews.com and from Asian Americans for Obama) at an event featuring Indian-American actor Kal Penn, Asian-American Democrats remembered the “Macaca Incident” in a state that might swing from red to blue this November–Virginia.

“Happy Macaca Day,” Penn told the small crowd of Obama supporters in Arlington, Va.

Virginia, once a part of the solidly Republican voting bloc that is the former Confederacy, has attracted more and more immigrants in recent years. Since 2000, the state’s foreign-born population has risen from 8.1 percent to one in ten. And in the more affluent and liberal counties of Northern Virginia, one in five residents is foreign-born. This shift and other demographic changes are putting Virginia in play this November, for the first time in a long time.