ASP.NET Application state vs a Static object

From: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q312607

ASP.NET includes application state primarily for compatibility with classic ASP so that it is easier to migrate existing applications to ASP.NET. It is recommended that you store data in static members of the application class instead of in the Application object. This increases performance because you can access a static variable faster than you can access an item in the Application dictionary.

Also, yes, static variables behave the same way regardless of where they are loaded from, and exist exactly once per app domain (unless you're talking about those labeled [ThreadStatic])