From Creigh Deeds:

From Jody Wagner:

From Steve Shannon:

(Ross Taylor / The Virginian-Pilot)

The line snaked around the building when I arrived at the ODU Ted Constant Center for the rally with Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds and President Barack Obama. Inside, the facility was already filling up.

Although the arena seats 7,319, the area behind the stage was curtained off. Approximately one-half of the arena floor, which can be used to boost seating to 10,000, was occupied by rally attendees with guaranteed admissions tickets, like those I gave away on this blog. The remainder of the floor was occupied by the press, with one row of press seating, then the risers for the cameras, followed by a couple of other rows for the press. The estimates of attendance – between 4,700 and 5,900 – sound about right.

There were two pre-rally receptions: one with the president for high-dollar donors and another with the governor for more modest donations. Both of those receptions were scheduled to take place between 3 and 4pm and came with preferred seating to the right side of the stage (looking forward). The president arrived early, so the initial schedule – pre-progam was to begin at 3:50pm and the rally at 4:55pm – was moved up. In fact, when the program began, the people attending the receptions weren’t even in their seats.

Levar Stoney, former DPVA executive director, now Deeds’ political director, acted as MC for the event. When he announced the first speaker, hesitating after the word “president,” the crowd went wild. He was introducing, of course, ODU President John Broderick.  In fairly quick succession, we heard from AG candidate Steve Shannon,  LG candidate Jody Wagner and Gov. Tim Kaine. Probably the funniest moment of the affair was when the woman singing the National Anthem messed up the words! Perhaps she was nervous but man – she was making up the words as she went along. Not quite the same as Ella Fitzgerald, but still.

Deeds gave a better version of his stump speech than I’ve heard before. He seemed more relaxed, which is a good thing. But the crowd was there for Obama and went wild when the president took the stage. (Both the remarks of Deeds and Obama, as prepared, are available here.)

Do I wish this rally had taken place a few weeks ago? You betcha I talked to some folks afterwards that hadn’t felt any connection to the race until yesterday. One person with whom I spoke had worked tirelessly for Terry McAuliffe in the primary but had done nothing since. (Yeah – I’m looking back at the “unity” rally that wasn’t.)  The good news is that some folks who weren’t planning to vote Tuesday will do so. The question remains whether enough of them will.

~

One more note: where in the heck were Mark Warner, Jim Webb and Glenn Nye?

Louis Eisenberg
spotter
Barbara Hatton-Hall
Carl Johansen
Teresa Eisenberg

Congratulations! Check your email!

And if you didn’t win, you can still get a ticket through the campaign website here. Just make sure that you show up in plenty of time – doors open at 2pm – as it is first come, first serve.

Thanks to all who entered!

In an editorial for the Sunday paper, The Virginian-Pilot endorsed Democrat Creigh Deeds for governor.  And, as I suspected, the issue in the forefront of the board’s mind was transportation.

He offers a political strategy rather than a substantive plan for solving the state’s most overwhelming challenge. While that strategy does not provide transportation advocates the leadership they crave, the Democrat at least allows them a fighting chance to press forward. In contrast, Bob McDonnell’s plan is a chain-link fence of stall tactics designed to distract voters into believing that progress is being made while not providing the money to actually make it. Under a Gov. McDonnell, transportation advocates would waste four years clawing their way over, under and around barriers erected by the state’s top elected official.

The paper takes McDonnell to task on other issues as well, saying:

McDonnell may be a more persuasive leader, but he is asking Virginia to follow him down a dead-end road. If he is governor, he will spend four years churning out spreadsheets with fantasy forecasts and writing stern letters to the president, Congress, state legislators and city councils demanding that they do something to save him from his own inertia.

The “nobody from nowhere,” a characterization of him that Deeds often reminds us that the Pilot said back in 2005, just snatched one away from “Virginia Beach’s own.”

And that means both of McDonnell’s “hometown” papers endorsed Deeds.

UPDATE: I see the Roanoke Times has also endorsed Deeds. McDonnell didn’t even bother to be interviewed by that editorial board, a sure way to lose an endorsement.

UPDATE #2: Just a reminder to all the McDonnell folks out there: the Pilot endorsed McDonnell over Deeds in 2005.

I’ve always been clear that the closer government is to me, the more it affects me.  At stake in this election is how we Virginians will live and function for the next twelve years. There will be no other race between now and the time the legislature undertakes redistricting in the 2011 General Assembly session. The lines that will be drawn will remain in effect until 2021.

If you want the Republicans to control two thirds of the redistricting puzzle, then go ahead  – write in someone other than Creigh Deeds for governor. Think about it: Bob McDonnell as governor is one vote away from controlling the entire redistricting process. And we know how well things worked for Democrats since the last redistricting controlled by Republicans. Despite his election year conversion, I don’t trust McDonnell to stick with his pledge of bipartisan redistricting. It’s just too tempting for him to not at least try to change the one Senate vote he needs. Besides, if he goes back on a campaign pledge, it’s not as if there is a mechanism to hold his feet to the fire: he doesn’t have to face the electorate again.

We have a shot at changing the redistricting process. And that shot lies solely with the election of Creigh Deeds as governor. Despite my differences with the man (and yes, there are many), at the end of the day, I refuse to lose sight of the goal.

At the end of the day, this election is about putting the voters first. A vote for anyone other than Creigh Deeds is a vote against the voters of Virginia.

And you can win one. Here’s how:

In the comments below, tell me why you are supporting Creigh Deeds for governor. And tell me why you think you should win a ticket.

The deadline for entries is 5pm Monday, October 26. At 6pm, I’ll pick the five best comments and announce the winners. Make sure you enter a valid email address as winners will also be notified by email.

I’ll be updating this post with more details about the rally as they become available. And to make it easy to find, I’ll keep this post stuck to the top of the blog until the entry deadline passes. (New blog content will be below this post.)

UPDATE Saturday, 11:24am: Just got some more details on the rally. The doors will open at 2pm. Because parking is an issue, please consider carpooling. The rally program is scheduled to start at 3:50pm.

The Deeds campaign released a new TV ad today as well.

And ICYMI, there is a new meme about the Deeds campaign: that Obama won’t be back in the state to campaign for Deeds.  And Gov Kaine can’t say whether the President is coming. This meme started with a Wall Street Journal story yesterday, which alleges that the White House is “stepping back” from the campaign. Of course, every media outlet out there has jumped on this like stink on you-know-what. If the Deeds campaign has addressed this, I haven’t seen it. But then again, VP Joe Biden was in the state today for a Deeds fundraiser.

I have to say I don’t think the race in Virginia is going to turn on whether or not Obama comes to Virginia to campaign for Deeds. This speculation, like so many other things, is just a diversion. Jeff Schapiro of The Richmond Times weighed in on the subject in his latest Virginia Notes video.

(Today the WSJ again weighs in on the VA gubernatorial race, calling it a “page turner.”)

Among the many electeds and candidates in attendance to this sold-out event will be Governor Tim Kaine and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Senator Creigh Deeds. Invitations were extended to all of the statewide candidates.

You can read about last year’s event here. I’ll have a report from this year’s dinner as well. Depending on what else is going on, I may be able to tweet a bit during the event.

BTW – how do you like the look of the audio player?

Opportunity

Conversation

Why did you?

The ads will be run across Virginia.

I expect the numbers to continue to narrow. The poll showed that only 46% of the likely voters surveyed had heard a “great deal” or a “good amount” about the thesis. As this number grows, I think McDonnell’s numbers will fall.

The Post also had an article on two female focus groups, composed of women from across Northern Virginia ages 21-66. (I wish the pollsters had convened other focus groups across the state.) The thesis is a problem for all.

(Interestingly enough, I had the opportunity to talk to a Republican-leaning female friend yesterday. She hadn’t heard much about the thesis. When I gave her some of the information in it, she was quite surprised. While not willing to jump to Deeds -yet – she was no longer completely behind McDonnell.)

There will be a lot more polling as we get closer to November 3.  PPP has already announced that they are putting their next poll in the field this weekend.

Deeds has spent the summer telling voters why they shouldn’t vote for McDonnell, but precious little time explaining why they should vote for him. Deeds has spent a month trying to scare Virginians about McDonnell’s past as a cultural conservative, but too little explaining his own vision for Virginia’s future.

A candidate has to answer two questions: why to fire (or not hire) the other guy and why to hire him. The board thinks that Deeds isn’t answering that second question.

Further, transportation is the one thing that this editorial board believes is the most important issue in the Commonwealth. I don’t disagree: after the debacle of July 2, it is clear that something has to be done about transportation.

One local paper’s endorsement may not mean much in the overall scheme of things. However, editorials tend to be viral. It doesn’t take long for other papers to follow the lead. The editorial board of The Daily Press has a series of articles on its election agenda. Transportation was one of their big issues, too.

Deeds cannot afford to lose the endorsement of these two Hampton Roads papers. Readership of newspapers may be down, but the folks that read the paper vote.

Hampton Roads and Richmond get a new radio ad called “Breaks.” You can listen to the ad below.

Part 2 is below the fold.

My camera batteries ran out so yes, there is a slight gap. And yes, it’s a different camera. Sorry.

If you are reading this through email or an RSS feed and do not see the video, please visit my blog.

The ad, which will run in Northern Virginia,  was released today in conjunction with a new website and “a large-scale Google and banner advertising campaign,” according to a press release.

The ad will be aired across Virginia.

The ad will air on stations in Richmond, Roanoke and Hampton Roads.

Mr. McDonnell is not trying to hide his absolutist opposition to abortion, which extends even to cases of rape or incest; let’s just say he’s not advertising it too loudly.

And the reason?

To win in November, Mr. McDonnell needs to appeal to centrist Democrats and independents in the state’s most populous region, Northern Virginia. And a fair number of his positions — for instance, allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives or banning college health centers from distributing morning-after pills while opposing abortion in all instances — may not sit well with middle-of-the-road voters in Northern Virginia and elsewhere.

That McDonnell has downplayed his stances on abortion is no surprise. He still is willing to roll out these stances in front of friendly audiences, just not the public at large. And to many, it appears that the Deeds campaign is “pro-abortion.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. No one – I repeat – no one is pro-abortion.

Yesterday, a young lady called in to the radio show on which Creigh Deeds appeared. I was there as co-host of the broadcast. “Our community,” the young lady said, “is conservative.” She went on to say that our community – meaning the black community – doesn’t support issues like abortion. Host Carlos Howard took offense and told her that we need to be worrying about the kids already here (among other things – seriously, if you didn’t hear the broadcast, you missed a good rant ).

I took a different approach.

There are those out there who believe that the opposite of pro-life is pro-abortion.  That’s simply false. The opposite is pro-choice, meaning that the woman has the right to choose. The decision on whether to continue or terminate the pregnancy is between a woman, her doctor and her God.  Many women – myself included – would never personally choose to have an abortion, but it is simply not my place to make that choice for others.

That McDonnell would restrict a woman’s right to make that choice – even in the case of rape or incest – is incompatible with his trying to appear to be a moderate. There is nothing moderate about such a stance.  And let me remind you what McDonnell said at the National Right to Life Committee meeting in 2008:

These elections matter because elections determine who’s got the power and who’s going to make the decisions and whether or not, as Wanda said, they are Pro‐Life or not will make an eternal difference in the statutes and in the legislatures all over this country. Not only in a federal election because it determines who’s going to be appointed but in all these state elections because ultimately most of the decisions that are made on the issue of abortion are made by your state legislatures and so you need to be active I know you need a rest from time to time but you know you can rest in eternity, but for now, while you’re on this earth, we need your help at every election. It says Virginia is for Lovers, it should say Virginia is for Lovers of Elections because we’ve got at least one or two a year in Virginia. So, you Virginians, you get no rest because we’ve always got something we need you to do. Those policy makers with the votes determine whether or not you’re going to have a pro‐life state where protections are given to the unborn consistent with federal court decisions or whether you’re going to have a different kind of policy.

Yes, elections matter. And so does telling the truth, Bob. Your extreme pro-life position is an imposition of your moral values on me. A pro-choice environment imposes nothing.

And before anyone goes off about Planned Parenthood being “pro-abortion” let me point you to this letter to the editor.

Listeners will have the ability to call in with questions. The call in number is (757)624-9475.

Prior to the show, Deeds, accompanied by Chesapeake Del. Lionell Spruill, Sr., will make a campaign stop at D’Egg Diner on Main Street in Norfolk.

Thirty-something wunderkind Joe Abbey, Deeds’ manager for his upset June primary victory, has been shunted aside.

Sabato was wrong. (Surprise!)

The campaign held a conference call Friday afternoon with press and bloggers. Speaking on behalf of the campaign were the very same Joe Abbey and Mo Elleithee. I managed to get in a question, specifically about this. Here’s the audio of that portion of the call.

Will anyone ever trust Larry Sabato again?

That Confederate flag photo was a desperate attempt to find the next “macaca moment,” and it failed miserably. The only thing that came out of this was a 1999 quote from Deeds about having grown up with a confederate flag in his home. Such information ends up being useful – to the McDonnell campaign. No one is going to post the whole story about how that quote came to be. All anyone is going to remember is that our choices for governor both seemed to have  an affinity for Virginia’s racist past.

The Deeds campaign didn’t have to have anything to do with this whole incident – that is, until campaign manager Joe Abbey retweeted Tribbett’s  tweet. Again, we are back to juveniles running the place. What was going through Abbey’s head at the time he did that only he knows, but no amount of spinning is going to remove the stain – nor the impression – that the information was being spread by the Deeds campaign.

As if they hadn’t already done enough damage, another photo appears with Bolling having a sticker on which contained a Confederate flag. First rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging! I seriously doubt Tribbett has an archive of photos, so the kiddies are at it again.

I’m calling on the grownups – DPVA Chair Dickie Cranwell and Creigh Deeds – to stop the madness. It’s beyond time to clamp down on this behavior.

That is, unless you’ve got other plans for November 4.

Monday Aug 10
10:30 AM
Ernst Community Cultural Center
NOVA Annandale
8333 Little River Turnpike
Annandale, Va 22003

Please come to this event if you can (men welcome as beloved allies), or if you’re not in the area, please sign up to get news from the Deeds campaign and find out what’s going on in your community:  http://www.deedsforvirginia.com/

Many of us who worked hard for progressive, feminist, equal justice candidates in Virginia over the past years are supporting the Creigh Deeds campaign for governor because we can’t allow Virginia to return to the bad old days.  The Republican ticket must not be allowed to govern our state with their sense of male, white privilege and animosity to women, children, communities of color and struggling families who need a leader to give them hope AND help.

If you want to join me as a member of the Women for Deeds committee, please send your name, address, email, phone and cell, and party title and/or organizational affiliation or credentials to:

Marj Signer, arlnow@aol.com

Call or write to her if you have any questions or concerns,  Please forward this to others who want to know more and get involved.  We can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.

For Equality and Justice,

Pat Reuss, Virginia feminist

The best I can do is provide the remarks given by President Obama and our next governor, Creigh Deeds, both of which are below the fold.

Image courtesy of New Dominion Project

REMARKS OF CREIGH DEEDS AT A RALLY FOR VIRGINIA WITH PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

~ As Prepared for Delivery ~

Thank you, Governor Kaine. I appreciate your friendship and your support.  All of us here respect your responsible leadership of our Commonwealth, and we thank you for your service to the Party.

Friends, I appreciate you joining with us here tonight as we continue the hard work of moving Virginia forward, standing on the shoulders of remarkable leaders such as Tim Kaine, Jim Webb and Mark Warner.  This effort, this campaign, will require each and every one of you, working together, to help us bring opportunity and hope and prosperity to every corner of Virginia.

By your presence here tonight, you recognize that Virginians deserve a Governor who will wake up every day with a clear understanding of the challenges we face, and a Governor who has a proven record of working to bring Virginians together to produce real results for people.

Virginians also deserve a Governor who has a detailed vision for maintaining our great public schools and our world-class colleges so we can better prepare our children for the jobs and opportunities of the future.

We need to build on what Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have already started here in Virginia – and what President Obama has the vision to advocate across the nation — by investing in quality pre-K education for every child.

There’s still a lot of room for reform.  I strongly support the President’s initiatives to expand charter schools.  There’s no reason Virginia should lag behind on this.  We should make changes that bring innovation and greater accountability to our schools.  Changes that ensure our education dollars are being spent wisely and where most needed: in the classroom.

We have a lot of work to do, but we can make sure every child in Virginia gets the strong public education they’re entitled to.

We also need to increase teacher pay to at least the national average. We can’t expect excellence if we aren’t even willing to pay for average. And we can’t expect to solve the challenges of tomorrow, in energy and technology, if we continue to fall behind the rest of the world in math and science.

We need a Governor who will encourage our teachers to go into math and science education. And who will pass a plan to forgive their student loans when those teachers agree to serve in the toughest schools in our most challenging school districts.

You know, my grandmother – my mother’s mom – proudly served more than 40 years as a Virginia public school teacher. She started her service way back in 1924, in rural Virginia. Like most women of that generation, she did not have the opportunity or the resources to earn a college degree, but she learned by reading and by doing.  She proudly taught generations of young people before retiring in 1964.

And I still vividly recall the day my own mother packed me off to college, folding together four 20-dollar bills, which I slipped into my pocket.

You see, I know something about the power — and the potential — that can be unleashed when a child has access to a quality public education.

That is what has motivated my own public service for the past 18 years.  That is why I stood with education leaders from across the Commonwealth earlier this year and demanded no permanent cuts to public schools. That is why I stood with Mark Warner during the historic 2004 budget reform battle – when we made the largest increase in education in Virginia history.

Before Mark Warner took office, our nation was facing record prosperity.  But here in Virginia, we faced a record budget shortfall.  Our state government was crippled by ideological leadership that refused to work across party lines.  Our triple-A bond rating, plenty of jobs, and the future of our state were at stake.

Over the last seven years we found a different way of doing things.  And that resulted in Virginia being repeatedly named the most business-friendly state over and over—seven times since Tim Kaine took office.  The best state to move your business to. And the best state in which to raise a child.

And one thing I know as I travel around the Commonwealth is this: Virginians don’t want to go back.  Virginia can’t afford to go back.  Virginians want and deserve to move our Commonwealth forward.

That is why I stand here tonight and ask for your continued support to build on that success as we prepare to sprint into the fall campaign.  Because we have come too far, we have accomplished too much together, to turn backwards to the failed vision and the misplaced priorities of the past.

I believe my opponent is a decent man, and I respect his career in public service.  But I also must tell you that at every significant moment, when there was a serious choice to be made, when there was an opportunity for him to be about moving Virginia forward — my opponent chose the ideological approach instead of working together.

At every key moment, when events or issues called for bipartisan agreement and consensus, for putting Virginia’s interests and Virginia’s future above mere partisan advantage – my opponent made the wrong choice.

On the issue we’re talking about today – education – my opponent talks about his support for schools, but he has a long record of opposing funding for public education, school construction and pre-K. Just a few weeks ago, my opponent put forward a transportation plan funded by taking at least $5.4 billion dollars away from public education over the next ten years, by his own estimates.

We can’t afford that.  We can’t afford to take Virginia back.

In a Deeds Administration short-changing education is not an option.  I will oppose any effort to cut education and will support innovative and creative improvements to our schools.

I’ve probably taken too much of your time already, and I certainly do appreciate your presence and your attention here tonight. I again ask for your continued support and your energy and your enthusiasm as we head into the fall.

But I’m smart enough to recognize that you are also here tonight to show some love and demonstrate your strong support for our guest of honor:

You know, if someone had said to you last January – or in March – or heck, last month, or even last week– that within six months of taking office, we would see the stock market regain a quarter of its lost value, or banks line-up to repay their TARP bailout funds, or that the housing market, and other leading economic indicators, would show signs that our economy was starting to recover.

The smart people would have said that you were naïve – that there was no way a new President could navigate our rocky economic shoals quickly or successfully.  And while our nation’s economic challenges remain serious, and we’re not completely on the road to full economic recovery for every family, we have come some distance to restore confidence and pride in America.  And we’re not done yet.

So now I encourage you to give a warm Northern Virginia welcome to our guest of honor—to a leader that Virginia, after 44 years in the political wilderness, firmly pushed into the winner’s column last fall…

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Virginians, with pride and honor, I present to you The President of the United States.

>

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT FUNDRAISER FOR STATE SENATOR CREIGH DEEDS

August 6, 2009

Hilton McLean Tysons Corner

Tysons Corner, Virginia

6:25 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Virginia!  (Applause.)  It is good to be in Virginia.  (Applause.)  It’s not that far away, but — (laughter) — it’s still just good to be here.  I still get a good vibe from Virginia.  And I just want to begin by telling you one of the reasons I love Virginia is because early in my campaign, January — 2007 — (laughter) — I’m trying to remember it, it’s all a blur — right after I announced I called up the new governor of Virginia, and obviously he was new, not very experienced — (laughter) — because he decided he was going to endorse my candidacy at a time when nobody could pronounce my name.  (Laughter and applause.)  And he has been at my side ever since, and he’s been on the side of the people of Virginia every since.  Give it up for Tim Kaine.  (Applause.)

Now, there’s a pattern that’s emerged in Virginia.  You had a guy named Mark Warner — (applause) — who recognized that the old tired politics of division and slash-and-burn weren’t serving the American people and the people of Virginia anymore.  So he came in with a different message.  He said, I’m going to figure out what works.  I’m going to figure out how we can get parties to work together, to invest in education and make sure that every child in Virginia can get a great education.  I’m going to figure out how we can start making the long-term investments that will make Virginia competitive in the global economy.  And working together with a whole bunch of folks, he was able to put Virginia on the path of extraordinary growth

Then Tim Kaine comes in and builds on that legacy — (applause) — and even in tough times has continued to keep Virginia on an upward trajectory where it has been able to survive tough times — better than most — because of the long-term investments, the vision that Tim Kaine has maintained as governor of Virginia.  He hasn’t been distracted by the petty politics and the trivial politics and the game-playing.  He constantly asks himself each and every day, what do I need to do to make life a little bit better for the people of Virginia.

So now this great Commonwealth of Virginia has the opportunity to continue that tradition with somebody who has that same spirit of pragmatism, of cooperation, of listening to people even when other people don’t agree with him, of civility, an ability to focus not on the short-term politics of an issue but the long-term that will make a difference.  And that is Creigh Deeds.  And I know that the people of Virginia are going to continue that tradition.  (Applause.)

Now, I’ll admit I’m a little biased because I was a state senator for eight years, and lo and behold, Creigh Deeds has been a senator for eight years.  (Applause.)  He has some wonderful daughters; I’ve got wonderful daughters.  (Applause.)  He’s got kind of a funny name — (laughter) — I’ve got kind of a funny name.  (Laughter.)  So there’s some things that just create a bond between the two of us.  (Laughter.)

But the reason I’m standing here is because when I look at his record as a prosecutor, when I look at the way that he was able to marshal support for things like Megan’s Law and Amber Alerts that have practical consequences in making sure that our children are safe; when I think about the way he was able to partner with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in order to create strong investments in education even when they were confronting a fiscal crisis — doing it in a responsible way that didn’t undermine the long-term growth of Virginia; when I look at the way he conducts himself in his campaign, speaking truth to power, but always doing it in a way that reminds us that we have to bring people together instead of driving them apart — I know he is the right person for Virginia.  And you know it, too.  That’s why you’re supporting him.  (Applause.)

But, look, let’s be honest.  This is going to be a tough race.  This is not going to be — Tim and I, as we were walking in, we said, we don’t like doing easy — we never — we don’t do things easy.  (Laughter.)  We like kind of squeaking it out to create more excitement, enthusiasm, and give reporters something better to write about.  We don’t believe in blowout victories.  (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  — your second term!  (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  But this is going to be a tough race.  It’s going to be a tough race because Virginia, although it has been moving in the right direction, is still a purple state.  It still has traditions that make a lot of people independent, a lot of people suspicious of ideologies on other — either side.  That’s part of what’s going to make this tough.  And it’s also going to be tough because the economic environment is tough.  I don’t think any of us can deny it, Virginia has weathered this economic storm better than most states.  But unemployment is still high.  People are still losing their homes.  Folks are still looking at their 401(k) and wondering whether it’s going to bounce back.

And so in that kind of environment, wherever the incumbent party is, it’s always going to have some challenges.  Even if people, when they really stop to think about it, recognize that this is mostly a mess that was inherited, people are still going to, rightly, hold the party in power responsible.  What’s your plan?  What’s your agenda?  How are you going to move the state forward?  And that’s right and proper, because we can’t spend all our time looking backwards or making excuses.  Our job is to look forward and to determine how are we going to, regardless of what cards we’re dealt, how are we going to make sure that families here in Virginia and all across America are able to succeed.

Now, I think that we have the best case to make that having brought this economy back from the brink, having inherited an unprecedented crisis, still we are now on the path where markets have stabilized, the banks are no longer in meltdown mode; we’re starting to see housing for the first time increase in prices in three years; that we’re starting to see a kind of resurgence of optimism that in this environment, if we are willing to make the investments in the new foundation for long-term growth, then we’re going to succeed.

And the kinds of things that we need for that new foundation are exactly the kinds of things that Creigh is talking about — (applause) — making sure that we continue to invest in early childhood education and everything that’s necessary for our children to succeed in math and science; making sure that they can finance their college educations, because we know that whoever trains their children best today, that’s going to be the country that’s able to compete tomorrow.

Making sure that we are tapping into a new clean-energy economy — (applause) — that is focused on harnessing the innovation and the dynamism of the American people; and making sure that we’re creating a business environment in which small businesses and large businesses are rewarded for success; making sure that we’ve got a transportation infrastructure that works for people to get to and from work, but also allows businesses to succeed.  (Applause.)

Those are the kinds of measures and steps that Creigh has stood for since he first entered into politics.  That’s what’s going to help guide this economy into the future, into the 21st century.

So the key right now for all of us is making sure that we fight through the doubts, we fight through the cynicism; we hit the ground — I want to make sure that everybody who was as activated around my campaign just a few months ago is not sitting back and suddenly saying their work is done.  (Applause.)  I need everybody who was in Virginia and helped give us a big win during the primary and helped give us a historic win in the general election — that everybody is working just as hard, knocking on doors, making phone calls, talking to their friends, talking to their neighbors.  (Applause.)

We have just started to change this country, and we need a partner like Creigh Deeds to finish the work that we just began. (Applause.)

Thank you very much, Virginia.  Love you.  (Applause.)

In our brief phone call, we talked about two issues: redistricting and uranium mining, the former because it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and the latter because a friend of mine wanted to know where he stood on it.

Deeds has been an ardent supporter of bipartisan – preferably, nonpartisan – redistricting, having sheperded legislation through the Senate over the past several years, only to see it killed in the House of Delegates. Deeds assured me that he intends to amend and/or veto restricting bills that come out the legislature until he gets what he wants in a fair redistricting bill.  He pointed to the precedent of former Democratic governor Doug Wilder.

Wilder, in 1991 with a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate, vetoed a redistricting bill that did not include enough black districts.  Deeds said that any redistricting bill should take into account the principles of compact, contiguous districts, among other things.

While he is not discounting the possibility that Democrats may gain the six seats necessary to obtain a majority in the House – he said that he is “impressed with the quality of the candidates” and rattled off the names of a number of them running in districts around the state – he told me he is more concerned about fairness.

I asked about uranium mining, a topic that I’m not too familiar with. Fortunately for me, Deeds is. He mentioned that he practiced law in Danville in the early to mid 1980s and became quite knowledgeable about the issue during that time. (For some background, take a look here.) Deeds said that energy independence is a part of our national security so he believes in a comprehensive approach, and nothing should be taken off the table.  He said, though, that he is not convinced that we have the technology to make such mining safe.

Deeds said, when the issue came up in committee, he asked two questions, one he knew the answer to and the other he didn’t. The questions were:

1. What about the terrain in Pittslyvania County has changed?
2. What about the science has changed?

The answer to question #1, which Deeds already knew, was nothing.  The terrain is such that the mining may very well contaminate the groundwater and not just in Pittsylvania County. The problem could very well extend beyond, down to Hampton Roads.

As for #2, he would like to see a study done by the National Academy of Sciences. Such a study has been authorized but so far, the NAS has balked at doing it. They want the state to pay for it – as of now, the private sector would pay for it – and they want the request to come from the Commonwealth, as opposed to from a General Assembly committee.

The other issue is that of radioactive waste. Deeds was quite concerned about this, saying that radioactivity lasts forever, and even if the technology exists to clean it up – which he was very skeptical of this being the case – the stigma of having radioactive waste in an area may be too much to overcome.

Unless the technology exists to make uranium mining safe, I think I understood Deeds’ position to be that he would not support it.

~

It was obvious to me that these two issues were ones which Deeds was quite passionate about. They are issues that he’s put a lot of thought into in coming to his own conclusions about.

Thanks to Senator Deeds for the call. I hope we will be able to do this regularly over the course of the election cycle. Deeds will be in Hampton Roads next week. Maybe I’ll get a chance to do the call in person

In a post on the PPP blog, the poll’s authors discuss the problem that bloggers and others have pointed to: a lack of enthusiasm among Democrats.

The problem is all in who’s motivated and planning to turn out- McCain supporters are at a considerably higher rate than Obama’s, and that means a healthy McDonnell lead.

[...]

So there’s basically an 18 point enthusiasm gap for turning out this fall between McCain voters and Obama voters at this point. Deeds probably needs to bring that down to about five by bringing out 55% of Obama’s voters to win. The bad news is he’s not there right now, the good news is he’s got three months to get there.

It is that last sentence that I think we need to focus on. Let’s be real: Democrats suffered a bruising primary season, spending over $15 million to determine the nominee. Creigh Deeds, the winner, spent the least. If you recall, in the final days of the campaign, Deeds announced staff layoffs and husbanded his resources in order to pull out what many thought to be an improbable victory.

If Deeds had to lay off staff, it’s only logical that he came out of the primary lacking both money and staff. The result has been a couple of months of rebuilding both – and an appearance that the campaign has being doing nothing.

Bob McDonnell spent the early part of the primary season doing what Deeds has had to do over the last couple of months, and then was able to campaign – including running TV ads – during our primary as the defacto nominee.

That there is an enthusiasm gap should be, then, no surprise.

What matters is going forward. Are we going to wallow in our disappointment – with the Deeds campaign, with the fact that our guy didn’t win or whatever excuse we come up with – and allow McDonnell a cakewalk or are we going to help Deeds “get there?”

I know what I’m going to do.

In an article in last week’s The Recorder, a newspaper that covers Bath and Highland counties, reporter James Jacenich recounts a meeting of Republicans in the area.  Mullins threw a lot of red meat to those gathered, not unexpected. But it was the last paragraph of the article that got the blood boiling:

He ended his talk with a story about a Wise County insurance office that had to close two offices, not due to lack of work or the economy, but because it couldn’t find employees. He said the employer tried to recruit employees at a nearby college campus. “They preferred to be on welfare,” Mullins said.

That is the legacy of Democratic rule, he inferred, and one more reason Virginians need to vote Republican.

Deeds commented that he saw the article over the weekend and that what it demonstrated to him was how out of touch with rural Virginia the McDonnell campaign is.

One of the best comments of the call came from Chairman Cranwell in response to a question from the Washington Post. Cranwell pointed out that the  paper endorsed Deeds over two Northern Virginia opponents, which should indicate that Deeds understands all of Virginia, not just parts of it.

~

While I was on the call, I received an email from the campaign of Democratic candidate for LG, Jody Wagner, in which she denounced the Mullins statement and called on her opponent, Republican Bill Bolling, to do the same.

Pat Mullins’ comments are another example of how out of touch Republicans in Virginia really are. As I’ve traveled throughout the Commonwealth, I’ve met with and spoken to hundreds of Virginians who strive day in and day out to find a job that can provide quality pay and benefits, so they can support their families. Southwest Virginians have been amongst the hardest hit by the global economic downturn, and yet just months ago, Bill Bolling and the Republicans rejected $125 million from the federal government that would have gone to helping displaced workers in the Commonwealth find new jobs and receive training. If Bill Bolling really believes any Virginian would rather receive a handout then take pride in the dignity of work, then he’s simply not qualified to serve another term in state government. If he doesn’t, he should join us in denouncing Pat Mullins’ remarks.

21^st Century Democrats Endorses
Creigh Deeds for Governor of Virginia

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, 21^st Century Democrats, a leading progressive electoral organization, announced its endorsement of Creigh Deeds for Governor of Virginia.  In over two decades of public service, Deeds has been dedicated to solving tough problems and improving the quality of life for all Virginians.

“21^st Century Democrats is proud to endorse Creigh Deeds for Governor of Virginia” said Jim Scheibel, 21^st Century Democrats’ Board Chairman.  “We have a history of promoting leaders who can transcend times of crisis and build a better tomorrow.  Creigh Deeds is one of those leaders.  His plans to generate green jobs and develop Virginia’s intellectual and physical infrastructure will benefit the state for decades.”

Deeds, a state senator and former prosecutor, has fought tirelessly on behalf of Virginians, creating jobs, promoting education and protecting the state’s natural beauty.  He has supported green jobs in Virginia, fought for a $500 tax credit for families caring for aged loved ones at home, and authored the most progressive land preservation legislation in the state’s history, preserving over 270,000 acres in the past five years.

“I’m honored and excited to have the endorsement of 21^st Century Democrats” said Deeds. “I respect their commitment to grassroots politics and admire their long record of electing progressives across the country.”

For over 20 years, 21^st Century Democrats has worked to build a broad network of progressive Democratic leaders who shape the direction of the Democratic Party.  They develop leadership at every level— from training new generations of field organizers and campaign staff to helping progressive candidates win campaigns.  In 2008, 65% of our supported candidates won election to state, local, and federal government.

To learn more about 21^st Century Democrats, visit www.21stcenturydems.org.

To learn more about Creigh Deeds, visit www.deedsforvirginia.com.

One of the starkest differences in the debate today was on a woman’s right to choose. Every voter in Virginia deserves to know that Bob McDonnell opposes choice even in the case of rape or incest.

The entire press release is below the fold.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                        July 25, 2009
NARAL PRO-CHOICE VIRGINIA PAC ANNOUNCES ENDORSEMENT OF CREIGH DEEDS FOR GOVERNOR, COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Endorsement highlights organization’s dedication to building pro-choice leadership in the Commonwealth

(Alexandria, VA) – Today, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia PAC, the Commonwealth’s leading advocate for personal privacy and a woman’s right to choose, announced its endorsement of Senator Creigh Deeds for Governor.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia’s PAC views this election as critical in determining the future of reproductive choice for the state of Virginia, and Senator Deeds is the leader who can help ensure that all Virginians have comprehensive, affordable, and accessible reproductive healthcare. We have worked with Senator Deeds over the past five years and know him to be a thoughtful, consistent, and dedicated pro-choice advocate, invested in promoting commonsense practices to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion, statewide.

Deeds’ opponent, Bob McDonnell, has made a life-long career of denying women the reproductive healthcare they need. In his 17 years in elected office, McDonnell has patroned over 30 bills that aimed to limit reproductive freedoms, harming women and families. “For someone who is so opposed to abortion, it’s mindboggling that Bob McDonnell has patroned bills to prevent access to birth control and emergency contraception,” said Tarina Keene, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.

“Bob McDonnell has gone on record stating his belief that abortion should not be legal, even in cases of rape and incest,” Keene continued. “Virginians cannot afford to have an elected leader confuse political ideology with medical need. McDonnell has time and time again voted to move Virginia backwards with regards to healthcare. NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia PAC is dedicated to supporting Creigh Deeds, and defeating Bob McDonnell’s attempt to control Virginians’ reproductive health.”

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia supports candidates who are dedicated to family planning, preventing unintended pregnancy, and increasing access to reproductive healthcare for women and families.  The organization’s powerful statewide network of activists will mobilize pro-choice voters throughout Virginia to help elect Senator Deeds and other pro-choice candidates in November.

1. Deeds’ performance in the primary
2. Sheila Johnson’s endorsement of Republican candidate Bob McDonnell
3. Former governor/former Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder’s comments

I’m convinced that none of these is evidence that Deeds has a problem with the black vote.

Deeds’ performance in the primary

Let’s start with where the black vote in Virginia is located. The most obvious place is the majority minority 3rd Congressional District. The district, represented by Bobby Scott, was the only one that Deeds lost in the primary and is often cited as indicative of his lack of support among blacks. Left out of the conversation are a couple of points. First, Scott all but endorsed Deeds’ opponent, Terry McAuliffe, in the primary, and allowed the use of his likeness in campaign literature. If McAuliffe hadn’t won the district, it would have been a surprise.

Second, Deeds only lost the 3rd by 844 votes, which amounts to 2.23% of the votes cast. Hardly a shellacking. His strength in the 3rd was no doubt helped by the support of State Senators Yvonne Miller (Norfolk), Louise Lucas (Portsmouth), Henry Marsh (Richmond) and Don McEachin (Richmond), all African Americans. And I understand Rep. Scott supports Deeds as the nominee.

Finally, the rest of the black vote in Virginia is pretty spread out, with some concentrations in the 4th and 7th CDs. Deeds, as previously mentioned, won those districts, the 7th by a significant margin.

Sheila Johnson’s endorsement of Republican candidate Bob McDonnell

I don’t know Sheila Johnson personally, but I do know that she is a wealthy woman. I don’t like to make assumptions, but it seems to me that wealthy people – both black and white – look at the world a little differently than average folks. They are  (sometimes overly) concerned with things like taxes. We know where Republicans in general and McDonnell in particular stand on taxes: less is better. McDonnell, in Saturday’s debate, defended the policies of former President George Bush:

[W]hat he also did, because we had an economic downturn, you remember this, in 2001, in 2003, we put together, and the federal government under Republican leadership, put together, significant cuts in taxes.  Corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, killed the death tax, which my opponent has routinely voted against in the General Assembly.  These were policies that Democrats and Republicans said in 2004, 2005 and 2006 – this is the reason that we’ve had this economic revival in America.  All of you saw…in fact it almost overheated in the real estate market, in the stock market, during that time.  And most people said it was because of those cuts.

While taxes may not be the only part of the equation, I take Johnson at her word when she said:

He has shown me that he has the right vision and the executive leadership skills that will guide Virginia through these challenging times.

Translation: he’s not going to do anything to hurt my pocketbook. Perhaps Deeds was unwilling to make such a promise.

In any event, I doubt that the endorsement by Johnson will translate into votes. I mean, it’s not like she’s well known, as this 2003 article from Ebony points out. And despite claims to the contrary, one black person endorsing McDonnell doesn’t mean any others will follow. I’m hearing even Benny Lambert is supporting Deeds

Former governor/former Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder’s comments

By now, everyone has read Wilder’s comments in this Politico interview. The nation’s first elected black governor, Wilder is often contacted when the pundits need a black face to represent Black America. Unfortunately, they generally fail to realize Wilder, who served as governor from 1990 to 1994, and more recently (2005-2009) as the mayor of Richmond, represents only himself.  The few times I’ve met Wilder, I’ve liked the man – he’s personable and has a great sense of humor. But then again, I’ve never crossed him or needed to kiss the ring, as it were.

From an earlier Politico article, you get a description of Wilder that most of Virginia Democrats are aware of:

Wilder’s frequent practice has been to haze fellow Democrats, either with public digs or a mischievous silence, if he believed they had not paid their dues or could challenge him for influence.

And if that weren’t enough, this 2005 CNN article makes a serious point about where Wilder could be by November:

But Wilder has weathered criticism from those who say he may be a Democrat, but his policies cater more to Republicans. They point to his unflagging support for the death penalty and deep cuts he made to higher education budgets while governor.

I won’t be at all surprised if Wilder endorses McDonnell. But keeping people guessing is one of the things that Wilder is very good at. But here’s the issue: what is the value of a Wilder endorsement? A lot of folks have no memory of his term as governor and his mayoral term can best be described as acrimonious. So just what vote – besides his own – does a Wilder endorsement bring? I’m afraid the answer may very well be none.

Further, I think the endorsement of another “black leader” – President Barack Obama – may carry a wee bit more weight with voters

~

These last two pieces I have more trouble with than the first. The problem for me is that the media insists on finding a “black spokesperson” to represent the black community. I’ve said it before: no such thing exists. Is there a “white spokesperson” to represent the white community? Of course not. So what’s with the monolithic black community stuff? Perhaps if more of the talking heads were black, the white ones would learn a thing or two. Instead, they continue to spew nonsense as if it is the truth.

At the end of the day, I challenge the so-called pundits to provide some real evidence that Deeds has a “problem” with the black vote. This ain’t 1930′s Germany: saying it doesn’t make it true. (And you look like an idiot when, in pronouncing it to be so, you call the candidate Craig instead of Creigh.)

For all the polls and hype, according to the historical trends, this ought to still be Brian’s race to lose.

Even so, I was prepared for a Creigh Deeds victory. I figured somewhere around 38%-39% for him – certainly not over 40% – with the remainder being split between Moran and Terry McAuliffe. I was astonished at the nearly 50% that Deeds got and poured over the results. Nearly everywhere I looked, including the precincts in Norfolk, Deeds had won.  Given that I had spent Election Day traveling around the city, I had no sense that Deeds could pull it off here. If precinct presence was any indication, it looked like Moran. I ran into Deeds signs (with the WashPo endorsement on them) at a few precincts and only one that had a Deeds poll worker. (I did not visit every precinct in the city.) Same was true for the McAuliffe campaign – some signs, only one precinct with a poll worker.  The results in Ward 5 were even more astonishing: Deeds won eight of the nine precincts in this ward, which is represented by McAuliffe supporter, Councilman Randy Wright.

So what happened? As a Moran supporter, I think it boiled down to two things: negativity and money.

Negativity

I’m not a fan of negative campaigning – never have been, never will be. And anyone who has ever been the subject of such ultimately comes to the same conclusion. There is a way to point out differences between yourself and your opponent without resorting to that. I was unhappy with the negativity emanating from the campaign and expressed it over and over to no avail.

A successful candidate has to answer two questions: why not to vote for the other guy and why to vote for you. Negative campaigning only answers the first point, not the second.

While some took pleasure in defeating McAuliffe, they failed to realize that such negativity left the voters no choice but to go to Deeds. Saying no to McAuliffe without saying yes to Moran was a recipe for failure. Not only did it move the undecideds to Deeds, it moved some Moran supporters to him.  The trend lines from the polling were clear: Moran stayed pretty flat the whole time.  The goal here was to elect Moran, not simply to defeat McAuliffe.

To be honest, I hope that some of the folks who were involved in this “strategy” never have the opportunity to work in politics again.

Money

With money, a campaign can get out its message.  Without it, a campaign is sunk. Moran had money but used it the wrong way. Conventional wisdom says that 70% of campaign funds should be used for voter contact.  Paying consultants is not voter contact, and, unfortunately, that’s where Moran’s money went. It’s been discussed for at least two years that Moran was spending way more money than he should have been. At the end of the day, there was no way to combat the negativity coming out of the campaign because there was no money to do so.

Yes, I got some mail pieces from Moran. (None from McAuliffe or Deeds, I might add.) But when the war is being waged on TV and you aren’t there, a win is impossible. You can’t go into a gun fight with a knife. McAuliffe was on TV for what seems like forever. (I think he made a mistake by talking so much in his own commercials – that gave Virginians the opportunity to know that he wasn’t from here.) Deeds’ commercials were extremely well done, presenting a picture of a confident, experienced candidate.  He made a strategic choice to reduce staff to be able to go on TV. He parlayed The Washington Post endorsement into more money (take a look at the $5,000 and over contributions he received since the last reporting period ), which allowed him to not only stay on TV, but to go up in the very expensive, voter-rich NoVA market.

By contrast, Moran only went on TV in selected markets, and then with only negative commercials. Not only was he never able to introduce himself to the voters, the only thing they saw barely had him in it.

It’s not just about raising money – Moran raised more money than Deeds, at least through the last reporting period – it’s about using it wisely. Deeds did that, Moran did not

~

As I said Tuesday evening, we have our ticket. I’m not sure that I agree with AIAW that it was a pragmatic decision on the part of voters; rather, I think it was a choice predicated upon the options as they were presented. Political junkies knew all the details of the race, but I doubt that the average voters were so lucky.  Bob Griendling has an excellent post on the lack of newspaper coverage, one with which I agree. And as I said in this Bearing Drift podcast, the blogs simply cannot close this gap.

The Democrats have nominated a moderate ticket that should match up quite nicely against the Republican one. The focus will be on the top of the ticket – Deeds and Bob McDonnell – and separating the two in the minds of voters will be our task. Do I wish the ticket were more liberal? You bet. But at least we have a ticket that I can support.

On to victory in November!

At the end of the day, the lesson from this campaign ought to be (a) know you’re base, (b) know your opponent’s base, and (c) secure your base while making your opponent fight for his. Creigh Deeds’ statewide votershare closely mirrors his voteshare in the three NOVA Congressional Districts (8,10,11) and with slightly more than 1/3rd of the vote coming out of these three districts, that once again looks fairly decisive.

Brian’s strategy from the very beginning was to lock down wins in these three districts as the NOVA candidate. Terry’s entry into the race utterly terrified him because he was no longer the only game in town — but even if we assume that everyone who voted for Terry in those districts still would have voted for Brian, Creigh still would have locked down 47% of the vote in NOVA. Meanwhile Creigh carried his base of support in the 5th and 9th Congressional Districts handily, securing nearly 70% of the vote in a 3-way race. These two districts accounted for another 12% of the vote; in a Brian-Creigh heads-up race, Brian would have had to carry a sizeable chunk of the black vote in the 3rd Congressional District (another 11% of the voteshare) to be assured of a win. Considering Moran’s voteshare in this up-for-grabs constituency, that was probably unlikely. It’s not precisely clear who would have won the race if Terry had never gotten in, but it probably would have been a nail-biter — which in itself is remarkable, considering Brian’s election was a foregone conclusion two years ago.

From Terry’s perspective, he entered the race with a lot of fundraising potential, a lot of baggage (good and bad), a huge staff, and no base whatsoever to speak of. It’s tough to say what his strategy was to win this contest as a consequence. Tactically they were operating very well, but as Sun Tzu wrote, strategy without tactics is the longest path to victory, but tactics without strategy is the surest path to defeat.

He closed his comments with this:

This is a great day to be a Democrat; it’s a lousy day to be a Republican. Raw turnout numbers for this year’s primary totalled more than twice the number of primary voters who turned out for the Senatorial Dem primary in 2006. Credit to the folks on all three campaigns, Moving Virginia Forward, and the Democratic Party of Virginia — we are clearly much better organized going into this year’s election than we were back in 2005. The engine keeps chuggin’.

But since we are on the topic let’s set the record straight. All three of the democratic candidates for governor have been negative at one point or another. It comes in many different forms: radio-ads, blog posts, “on background” e-mails,  twitter updates and YouTube clips. They have all taken the opportunity, either themselves or through their closely associated supporters, to highlight differences in their policies and positions.

Yep. Like Nobles, I’ve seen it, too. And, truth be told, I’m none too happy about it.

Watching the devolution of Virginia politics over the past three years has been painful. No doubt that played a part in the decision of The Richmond Democrat to retire.  I’ve watched some really good people turn into virtual monsters. Is it any wonder, then, that the majority of folks simply tune out?

Is this the best we can do?

Democrats are, no doubt, feeling pretty good about our chances right now with President Obama’s approval ratings after 100+ days being pretty high. But November is a long way off, and a lot can happen between now and then. John Judis of The New Republic opines in this article that the picture may soon not be so rosy.

According to Gallup, 66 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing. But I expect that Obama’s popularity will begin to fall, even plummet, as the leaves turn brown. That’s not to say he is doing a bad job, but that the tasks he faces in fixing the economy remain daunting, and beyond resolution in his first year or, perhaps, even first term.

[...]

There is reason to be worried that we’re still a long way from seeing growth rather than slower decline. Much of a recovery will rest on a growth in consumer demand, but the most recent figures show a 0.4 percent decline in retail spending from March to April–and an 11.4 percent decline from the previous April. That’s not the stuff of growth.

[...]

As consumer demand continues to plummet and actual joblessness continues to soar, I expect Obama’s popularity to suffer.

This has been my fear all along. A dip in the popularity of the president (combined with dismal approval ratings of Congress) could very well tank the chances for Democrats – not only to win the governor’s mansion but also actually lose some seats in the House of Delegates. With that goes any chance for reasonable redistricting reform and Republican-drawn districts for the next ten years. Kiss goodbye Congressman Perriello and Congressman Nye, as those districts will be likely redrawn to more favor Republican candidates.

My eye has long been on the prize of redistricting reform. I thought we had a chance in 2008, with the General Assembly being under split control. But it didn’t happen, despite passage of legislation by the Democratically-controlled Senate. There simply are not enough constituent-minded Republicans in the House of Delegates to get bipartisan – forget non-partisan – legislation through.

Even under perfect conditions, I am not convinced that Democrats have the ability to pick up six seats in a single election cycle. I understand that the most seats that have ever changed hands is four. These are not perfect conditions. (Heck, I’m not sure that we could have picked up six seats had the House elections been held last year, when the blue wave washed over Virginia for the first time since 1964. )

The Democratic candidate for governor may very well, by fall, find himself needing to distance himself from the national party, to be what someone called the other day a “Virginia Democrat.” As Democrats look at the trio of candidates who would carry the party’s banner,  it would be wise not to look at where we are on June 9, but where we very well could be on November 3.

For those outside of the area, check your local public TV stations for airing dates.

Additional coverage of the debate can be found on the VEA website, in The Virginian-Pilot, and in The Daily Press. I think we can also expect a Daily Kos article from Arjun Jaikumar, who was also there and who covered the Farm Team event.  (By the way, in case you missed it, the video of the entire video from Williamsburg is available here.) I did not see any other bloggers there, so take what you read at some of the other blogs with a grain of salt: it’s campaign spin.

The format of the forum – note: this was not a debate – was that each candidate was given time for an opening statement, then asked a series of questions that had, at least according to one source, been provided in advance, and then a closing statement. The forum was conducted as a part of the VEA state convention, which was attended by about 800 delegates from across the state. For those who followed my Twitter feed last night,  I tried to update, in real time, what was happening there.

One of the most interesting things of the forum was who invoked Obama and who didn’t. One would normally expect that it would be the Democratic candidates who would talk about President Obama, but it was not. Republican Bob McDonnell repeatedly used the President’s name, saying he agreed with Obama on a number of issues. Of course, those issues happen to be ones with which most Democrats disagree, particularly school vouchers. But as usual, McDonnell, who has already shifted to the center for the general election, attempted to come off as a reasonable Republican. He even bragged about increased Virginia funding for education and conveniently left out that he voted against Warner’s 2004 budget which included $1.5B for K-12 education.

On the Democratic side, Creigh Deeds got the largest applause of the night with his line, “We can’t expect excellence if we don’t even pay for average.” Both Deeds and Moran emphasized their legislative records. All of the Democrats support the usual education issues, including pre-K funding, smaller class sizes and raising teacher salaries. McAuliffe, ever the showman, talked about raising teacher salaries not to the national average of about $52,000 but to that of our neighbors to the north, Maryland and Washington DC, where the salaries average about $60,000. Virginia’s teachers average about $46,000.

McAuliffe’s opening remarks got a lot of applause. Not unexpected when you promise everything that the educators want. After his remarks, I turned around and asked one of the convention delegates whether he had promised everything. She smiled and said no. She said, “He didn’t promise me a million dollars!”

I have to admit: this is one area where I have trouble with McAuliffe. On the one hand, he hides behind the legislature to say he won’t work for the repeal of Marshall-Newman. On the other hand, he makes all of these grandiose promises without considering the legislative environment in which he would have to operate. If there is anything that bugs me, it is inconsistency. And McAuliffe demonstrates that on a fairly regular basis. Constrained by reality, both Deeds and Moran don’t promise what they have no hope of delivering. (Of course, if Virginia allowed governors to run for re-election, there would be some accountability for such nonsense. But then that’s a post for another day.)

Talking with some of the convention delegates afterwards, it was interesting to note how many of them simply have not paid any attention to the upcoming primary. (Guess that explains the undecided voters in all the polls.) For many, this was their first opportunity to hear the candidates.  Each of the convention delegates was provided with literature on all of the candidates. Hopefully, this will be an awakening for them about June 9.

Every question to be asked of the candidates will come through the new media. You can submit a question via YouTube (please notify the organizers by email once you have posted your short video), Twitter,  or simply by leaving your questions in this thread.  Please leave your home city and state so that the organizers will know where the questions are coming from.

The debate will be broadcast by C-SPAN and a live feed has been promised.

So, if you have a question for the Democratic candidates for governor, leave them here and we’ll see if your question gets asked at the debate

UPDATE: Please get your questions in. The debate is coming soon.

The entire press release is below the fold.

UPDATE: I just received Moran’s statement on the Partisans support. It, too, is below the fold.

April 20, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VIRGINIA PARTISANS RECOMMENDS BRIAN MORAN FOR GOVERNOR

The Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club today recommended that equality-minded voters support Brian Moran in the Democratic Primary for Governor on June 9.

“All of the Democratic candidates are far superior to the Republican candidate on equality issues,” said Charley Conrad, Partisans President. “Whoever wins the Democratic primary will have our endorsement in the general election. But in the primary, it’s clear that Brian Moran stands head and shoulders above the competition in terms of support for equality and LGBT rights.”

In making the recommendation, the Virginia Partisans Board of Directors considered the candidates’ track record on issues as well as their current campaign positions. All three candidates – former Delegate Moran, state Senator Creigh Deeds, and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe – were asked to complete a questionnaire on issues of concern to the LGBT community, and each was interviewed by the Board.

“Brian Moran is clearly the most LGBT-positive candidate who has ever run for Governor of Virginia, ” Conrad noted. “Throughout his career, he’s been with us 100% of the time – not just in terms of his voting record, but also in the leadership positions he has taken in support of equality. And even now, during this campaign, he continues to push pro-equality positions, despite the fact that they may cost him votes downstate.”

While other nearby states are actively debating marriage rights or expanding civil union benefits, gays in Virginia are still reeling from the passage of the anti-gay-marriage Marshall-Newman Constitutional Amendment in 2006. How the candidates dealt with the issue at that time is informative:

· The two houses of the state legislature each had approximately 15 recorded votes related to the amendment proposal, including attempts to kill the proposal, to amend it, to change the wording on the ballot itself, and for final passage each of 2 years. Moran voted with the LGBT community’s interests on all of those votes. Deeds voted with us part of the time, but against us on final passage. McAuliffe wasn’t a member of the legislature so has no record to compare with.

· During the public campaign on the amendment, Moran was an early and vocal leader among elected officials in opposing it, and he campaigned statewide against it. Through his leadership and efforts, other top Democratic elected officials also followed suit, including Gov. Tim Kaine, former Gov. (and now Sen.) Mark Warner, and then-candidate Sen. James Webb. To his credit, during the public campaign, Deeds said he had made a mistake in voting for the amendment in the legislature and publicly campaigned for a “no” vote by the public. McAuliffe, a private citizen in Virginia at the time, says he voted against the amendment, but there is no record of him campaigning against it in the way the other two candidates did.

· During the current gubernatorial campaign, Moran continues his leadership on this issue, urging the amendment’s prompt repeal during candidate debates and forums and on the campaign trail. On this and other issues of importance to the LGBT community, Deeds says he is a “work in progress” and, indeed, his positions over time have evolved to be more and more progressive on equality issues. McAuliffe’s position has been that these issues shouldn’t be debated during the primary – preferring that the election be entirely about economic and management issues.

“On many issues, all three candidates are solidly on our side,” Conrad noted. “All three are with us on the need for gay-straight alliances in our schools, for anti-bullying efforts, for equality in housing and employment, and on hate crimes legislation. If I were passing out grades, I’d have to give both Deeds and McAuliffe a B – they’re both better than average on our issues.”

“But the A student in this class is clearly Brian Moran,” Conrad concludes. “There’s no question that he ‘gets it’ – and that he’s willing to stick his neck out on behalf of our community. We should all hope for – and work for – his nomination and election as Virginia’s next Governor!”

And here is Brian Moran’s statement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Moran Statement on Partisans Support

~ Fighting for Equality~

ALEXANDRIA – Brian Moran made the following statement after the Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club recommended equality-minded voters support his candidacy for Governor. Moran has consistently been a fighter for equality over 13 years in the General Assembly and is the only candidate for Governor to consistently vote against, speak out against and campaign against the anti-gay Marshall-Newman amendment in 2006. At the first debate on Sunday, Moran was the only candidate for Governor willing to repeal that amendment if elected.

“Equality is a fundamental value that makes us Democrats,” Moran said. “I’m proud that the Virginia Partisans recognizes my career-long fight to break down barriers and ensure equality. Virginians know where I will stand on this issue because they know where I have stood. Leadership isn’t easy.”

Moran supports full contract rights for LGBT Virginians including domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, contract rights, and other benefits. Those were all made unconstitutional by the 2006 amendment. Moran also supports the inclusion of sexual orientation in Virginia’s hate crimes statute.

Brian Moran has a 20-year record of fighting for the people of Virginia. He was Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and a Delegate from Alexandria City and Fairfax County. Prior to that, he served as a prosecutor in Arlington County.

The three Democratic candidates for governor squared off in the first debate* of the season Sunday at The College of William & Mary. Hosted by The Farm Team and moderated by Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC, the crowd of 400+ was treated to 90 minutes of political posturing as the candidates presented their stances on a wide variety of issues.

[Cliff Notes version for those who don't want to read further. McAuliffe: "The answer is jobs." Deeds: "I stayed in the Senate." Moran: "Fighting for 20 years."]

For political junkies like myself – and all of those whose articles have been quoted ad naseum throughout the blogs – there was little new information. I suspect that any Republican may not have recognized the subtle differences between the candidates. But the differences were there – and, at times, not so subtle.

In talking to people after the debate, as expected, each candidate’s supporters thought their guy won. But it was the undecided voters that I was interested in speaking with and, believe it or not, I found a few in the crowd. All of them said that they felt more informed about the candidates after hearing them speak and a couple felt more inclined to support one candidate over another. One woman I spoke with told me that she had come in supporting one candidate (she didn’t identify which and I didn’t ask) and was leaving unsure about that support. Another woman said she has waffled between supporting two of the candidates and, after the event, was sitting firmly on the fence. (She was emphatic that she would not support the third candidate.)

(I wish I could convince one or more of the undecided voters to write about what they learned about the candidates. It certainly would make for more interesting reading.)

Overall, there were no major gaffes by any of the candidates. On the strength of one question, though, I give the edge to Brian Moran. The question was about the Marshall Newman amendment (check out video 2 below, at about the 5:40 mark). As a member of The Farm Team, we were given the opportunity to submit questions when we registered for the weekend meeting. I submitted that question, even though I knew already where the candidates stood. I know that Moran worked very hard to defeat the amendment. And we all know that Deeds has “grown” into his position. I even knew McAuliffe’s position on it, since I’d asked him about it in our interview. Nevertheless, I was surprised by the answers of all three.

Deeds said the state shouldn’t be involved in marriage. That he has progressed this far is amazing. McAuliffe was extremely disappointing, basically saying he would do nothing about the current state of affairs in Virginia – not even try. Come on, Terry. You’ve told us that if you are the nominee, you will help us get the six seats to gain the majority in the House. Are you really telling me that with a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate this issue is off the table?

Brian hit it out of the park, promising to work for the repeal of the Marshall Newman amendment. As much of a supporter of the rights of the LGBT community as Moran is, I was fully prepared for him to say he voted against the amendment and stop there. But he didn’t – and I couldn’t have been more proud to call myselff a Moran supporter.  Brian Moran will work for all Virginians and the proof was in that statement.

UPDATE: I forgot to explain the use of the asterisk on the word debate above. The word “debate” generally means give and take. Given that there were no rebuttals, you can’t really call this a debate. Rather, it was more like a joint appearance.