Democrat Mark Warner opened his Senate campaign over the weekend in Abingdon Virginia pledging not to forget rural areas and taking his harshest shots yet at his potential Republican rival. Warner kicked off a three-day, 12-city tour. It was politically and sentimentally significant for Warner. Abingdon was the first event in his 2001 race for governor, a victory that broke a brief GOP stranglehold on political power in Virginia. But it is also a region that Warner cultivated heavily when he was governor, pushing economic development projects into the depressed region and highlighting its Appalachian culture.