Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, beginning his first visit to Georgia since claiming the Democratic nomination, vowed Monday night to "transform this political map" and make the state competitive in November.

"But it starts right now. Right here in Georgia," Obama told about 300 supporters who paid a minimum of $2,300 apiece to attend a fund-raiser at 103 West in Buckhead. "One of the premises of our campaign is we don't just intend to win, we want a mandate."

Ben Gray/bgray@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Martin Luther King III talks to reporters Monday evening at 103 West on West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead before attending a fund-raiser for Barack Obama.

Jae C. Hong/AP (ENLARGE)

Sen. Barack Obama stands next to his seat in his campaign charter in St. Louis Monday. The airplane made a safe, unscheduled landing in St. Louis Monday after a maintenance issue arose while en route from Chicago to Charlotte, N.C.

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Later, at the chateau-like estate of supporter Michael Coles, Obama declared the race between him and Republican John McCain tied in Georgia.

"We intend to stir things up here," said Obama, his slender frame fitted into a dark gray suit, white shirt and pale blue tie.

He arrived in Atlanta an hour behind schedule, due in part to an unexpected stop when his campaign plane suffered a mechanical failure and was forced to land in St. Louis. The landing was described as routine, and Obama and his staff switched to another plane to complete the trip, skipping a planned stop in Charlotte.

At 103 West, Obama previewed his scheduled town hall meeting today at McEachern High School in Powder Springs, where he will discuss the need to ensure a viable economic future for the next generations. That, he said, is the responsibility of this generation.

But he got his biggest applause when he turned to politics, and the idea that an African-American Democrat could compete in Georgia and elsewhere in the Republican-dominated South.

"We're going to have a whole bunch of different ways we can win, because we're going to compete here in Georgia, we're going to compete in North Carolina and Virginia," he said. "We're going to try and transform this political map."

Georgia Republicans countered Obama's visit with a pair of events. State Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) and a group of small business owners gathered at an Atlanta restaurant to promote McCain's tax and economic policies. And Georgia's two U.S. senators, Republicans Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, held a conference call to lambaste the Democratic hopeful and his claim that he can win Georgia in November.

"They would like nothing better than to crack a Southern state. And Georgia is one they would like to go after," said Isakson.

He said he believes Obama is focusing on Georgia because Democrats are having problems in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, despite the fact that Obama leads McCain in Pennsylvania polls by an average of 8 percentage points, and in Ohio by an average of 5 percentage points.

Isakson said that despite the Obama campaign's rhetoric, he does not believe Georgia is in play, and pointed to a series of recent statewide polls showing McCain leading by 8 to 10 percentage points. Two other polls, both by Atlanta-based Insider Advantage, show the race much tighter, with the two candidates essentially tied.

Chambliss complimented Obama on running a solid primary campaign and signing up legions of new voters. But he said Republicans will now begin to remind their base, "the most loyal GOP voters," how critical turnout will be in the November election.

Staff writer Jim Tharpe contributed to this article.