ST. PAUL -- The primary season officially ends tonight for John McCain when he'll accept the Republican Party's nomination. McCain and running mate Sarah Palin will begin the general election race tomorrow, leaving one Midwestern battleground state to campaign in two more -- Wisconsin and Michigan.

Upon exiting Minnesota's Twin Cities, the newly-minted McCain-Palin team will first hit downtown Cedarburg, Wisc., for a "meet-and-greet" Friday at noon Eastern time. They'll be in friendly territory there: Cedarburg, located 20 miles north of Milwaukee, is in Republican Jim Sensenbrenner's 5th District, the most Republican district in Wisconsin.

Although Wisconsin has voted Democratic in the last five presidential elections, the last two have been exceptionally close. John Kerry defeated Pres. Bush in 2004 by 11,000 votes out of some 3 million total cast. The 2000 race was even closer, with Gore edging Bush by less than 6,000 votes.

They have work to do if they hope to keep it that close or even win. Barack Obama currently leads by 7.2 points in the RCP Average for Wisconsin.

From Wisconsin, McCain and Palin are scheduled to appear at an early evening rally in Sterling Heights, Mich. The northern Detroit suburb includes Chrysler and Ford assembly plants and, like Cedarburg, is in a safe Republican district (Michigan 10).

Michigan has voted Democratic in the last four presidential elections, with Kerry winning by 3 points and Gore by 5 points in the last two. Obama holds a slightly smaller lead there, with a 4.3-point lead in the RCP Average for Michigan.