NORFOLK -- Michelle Obama read to children and appealed to hard-pressed military spouses yesterday in her first campaign visit to Virginia, a state her husband is spending time and money in, hoping to carry it in November.

Michelle Obama's trip to Norfolk included a fundraiser last night at Harrison Opera House, attended by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton. The trip is another sign that Sen. Barack Obama hopes to turn a state that has not backed a Democratic nominee for president since 1964.

The visit comes amid buzz that Kaine is high on the Illinois senator's list as a vice-presidential nominee. Barack Obama campaigned in Indiana yesterday with Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who also is said to be on Obama's short list.

In her 90-minute daytime appearance at Old Dominion University, Michelle Obama told supporters -- many military veterans or family members of servicemen -- that she understands the juggling act required of military spouses who are trying to raise families, pay the bills and support fellow military families.

"Few sacrifice more to serve their country than all of you. And I know that too often it seems like you're doing it all on your own," she said.

"I've heard stories all over this country of families trying to hold it together with insufficient support -- women often bearing the brunt of these struggles," she said.

The trip to Norfolk is a sign that Obama hopes to make inroads in vote-rich Hampton Roads, a military community that McCain, a former Navy pilot, hopes will be a stronghold.

Michelle Obama said her husband wants service members returning home from deployments to receive the same opportunities that his grandfather had.

Barack Obama's grandfather enlisted after Pearl Harbor and marched in Gen. George Patton's Army. His grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line while he was away, Michelle Obama said.

Her roughly 20-minute speech was punctuated by cheers from the crowd. Her visit launched "Blue Star Families for Obama," a national military families council to advise the Obamas on issues facing military families.

On stage, Michelle Obama was joined by six wives of men on active duty, as well as decorated Vietnam War veteran Paul Bucha; Claudia Kennedy, a retired lieutenant general in the Army; and Del. Joseph F. Bouchard, D-Virginia Beach.

The wives shared their private struggles with raising children, moving frequently, and taking care of sick parents. Much of the conversation centered on health care, which Michelle Obama dovetailed with her husband's campaign promise to work toward universal health care.

Elaine Guishard, 46, is raising three teenagers with a husband in the Navy on active duty. She is a breast-cancer survivor and worries about whether she will have health insurance when her husband retires in three years.

"What's going to happen to me in three years if this cancer comes back?" she said. "I want to know what the government can do for me."

Beth Robinson's husband, Matt, is a Marine Corps officer. She stays at home with an 18-month-old, has another on the way, and she has multiple sclerosis. Her husband has gone to Iraq three times and Afghanistan once since 2003.

"I am proud," she said. "I am also very concerned about many issues. I am appalled at the state of our health-care system in general and am frustrated by the limitations of military health care."

A lack of military housing compounds some families' problems, she said.

"I feel that adequate military pay and benefits and services for active-duty personnel and veterans are not negotiable."

Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.