Deeds vs. McDonnell: The Rematch
Republican Bob McDonnell, left, and Democrat Creigh Deeds, right, greet each other Saturday, July 25, 2009 at the Homestead in Hot Springs, VA, during the first gubernatorial debate.
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Virginians will vote in statewide and local elections. In addition to selecting a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, a new House of Delegates in the General Assembly will be shaped by the results.
Governor:
Only New Jersey and Virginia are electing their governors this year. Without nationwide congressional elections those two gubernatorial contests are particularly important to the two major political parties.
For months political pundits have been barking the questionable notion they will be tantamount to referendums on President Barack Obama’s performance in his first nine months on the job.
Opinion polls have consistently reported that Republican Bob McDonnell leads his Democratic opponent, Creigh Deeds. Depending on which poll and which week McDonnell’s lead has varied between eight and 15 percent.
In their last head-to-head bout, in 2005, McDonnell outlasted Deeds, winning the attorney general job by just 323 votes.
For those readers who still put any store in large newspaper endorsements, Deeds got the Washington Post, the Virginian-Pilot (Tidewater) and the Roanoke Times. McDonnell got the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Daily Press (Hampton Roads).
Both men are attorneys who entered the House of Delegates in 1991. Deeds, 52, who lives in Bath County, currently represents the 25th District in the State Senate. McDonnell, 55, who lives in Virginia Beach, served as the commonwealth’s attorney general from 2006-09.
As of the Sept. 30 report, McDonnell had raised and spent more money than his opponent: McDonnell $17.4 million to $13.2 million for Deeds. But half of Deeds’ dough went into the Democratic primary he won in June.
Deed’s convincing primary win over two Northern Virginia candidates defied the opinion poll wisdom leading up to the voting. McDonnell had no real opposition when was nominated by a convention the month before. The campaign since the summertime nominations has not produced an issue that has aroused all that much passion in the electorate in the fall.
Purists in both parties have seemed less than happy with the careful campaigns of the two candidates, which have both sought to portray their man as the more genuine moderate, whatever that might be.
However, the two camps have consistently disagreed over how to deal with Virginia’s transportation problems. Deeds has said he’ll come up with a bipartisan plan, working with the General Assembly, after he’s elected. He has not ruled out targeted tax increases to get the job done. McDonnell has offered a patchwork plan to come up with money for roads, without raising taxes. But it seems that plan, which even some of his supporters call unrealistic, matters much less than his trumpeted promise to not raise taxes, no how.
Then there’s been the thesis McDonnell wrote as a graduate student at Regent University (formerly Christian Broadcast Network University) in 1989. While McDonnell remains opposed to abortion, in all cases, he claims to have evolved on some other matters his 20-yer-old writings touched on, to do with women in the workplace, etc.
The Deeds camp has sought to tar McDonnell by tying him to Regent’s founder, televangelist Pat Robertson, and pointing at the ultra conservative ideas about the government regulating private behavior Robertson continues to put forth.
McDonnell has managed to make whatever dissatisfaction with Obama has been in the air cling fast to Deeds. Plus, the likes of the amazingly positive approval rating Sen. Mark Warner left for Gov. Tim Kaine to use to win votes in 2005 has not been there for Deeds this year.
That, while Deeds has seemed unable to worry voters much by linking McDonnell to Republican figures with low approval ratings, such as former President George Bush, or the most recent Republican governor of Virginia -- Jim Gilmore, who was also an anti-tax stalwart.
McDonnell has seemed the more polished speaker; his party seems better organized and more energized. Although Deeds may have come across as the more thoughtful public servant, many Democrats seem prepared to lose. Ironically, some have pointed at the distance Deeds has kept between him and Obama as a tactical error.
The other statewide races are getting much less attention from the media, as is usually the case.
Lieutenant Governor:
Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, 52, an insurance executive, is running for reelection. He decided to do that rather than challenge McDonnell for the top spot on the ticket, or get another job. He lives in Mechanicsville.
Democrat Jody Wagner, 44, a Virginia Beach attorney who has not held previous elective office, is Bolling’s opponent. She has served in the cabinets of the last two Democratic governors.
Attorney General:
As usual, both candidates at the bottom of the statewide tickets are attorneys:
Republican Ken Cuccinelli, 41, is a state senator from Fairfax County (37th District). He was first elected in a 2002 special election.
Democrat Steve Shannon, 38, has represented part of Fairfax County (35th District) in the House of Delegates since 2004.
One last statistic, for what it’s worth: For eight consecutive gubernatorial elections Virginians have picked a governor of the opposite party from that which controlled the White House. The string goes back to 1977, when Republican John Dalton was elected governor while Democrat Jimmy Carter was the president.
McDonnell surely hopes that contrarian streak continues. Deeds, who finished strong in the June primary, is hoping for another come-from-behind upset.
Deeds campaign Web site:
http://www.deedsforvirginia.com/
McDonnell campaign Web site:
http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/
Bolling campaign Web site:
http://www.billbolling.com/
Wagner campaign Web site:
http://www.jodyforva.com/
Cuccinelli campaign Web site:
http://www.cuccinelli.com/
Shannon campaign Web site:
http://shannon2009.com/
F.T. Rea is a freelance artist and writer based in the Fan District. He publishes SLANTblog and the Fan District Hub, an independent community news Web site. Rea's work has been seen under a variety of local mastheads since 1972.
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