I participated in a conference call with 2009 gubernatorial candidate and current VA Senator Creigh Deeds a bit ago. Deeds started with a brief statement, saying that he has been thinking of running for governor for close to 50 years and seriously for the last two years. His campaign will be about quality of life issues, the things that “move us forward together.” Deeds said he recognizes that it is going to be tough but he believes he is the most electable candidate, having proven that he can get votes in every part of the state.
In response to a question as to why now, Deeds said that it was important to let people know exactly where he stands and that it is important to stake out the ground early. Since the decision to run was already made, he wanted to go ahead and make it public, after giving deference to Mark Warner (during the time he was undecided about a gubernatorial run), the General Assembly races and Tuesday’s 1st Congressional special election. Deeds said he did not want to get in the way of those races. Later in the conversation, he said that he will not get in the way of the federal races in 2008, either. He plans to help federal candidates. Deeds also said that he will continue to be focused on what needs to be done in the General Assembly and has already re-introduced the same redistricting legislation that he has introduced for six years. He will also be introducing another piece of redistricting legislation put together by another group. (This is the legislation I mention in this post and the group is The Virginia Redistricting Coalition.)
Deeds said he has the structure in place to raise the money that he needs, both for a primary and for a general election. While he shares my concern about a costly primary, he said he cannot control what others may or may not do. He said he is committed to raising the necessary funds and will not be outspent, as he was by McDonnell in 2005.
Having seen this post earlier, I asked Deeds about the possibility of him flipping parties. He said that such a comment is an insult and that he could not think of any reason to change parties; besides, his grandfather was chair of the Democratic Party and he was raised as a Democrat.
There were other issues touched on including the NoVA vs RoVA controversy, the environment and potential opponents. Overall, Deeds believes that he can unite Virginians and take us forward by focusing on the big issues such as transportation, education and jobs.
Lowell’s comments on the conference call are here.
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I am surprised that anyone ever doubted Deeds’ partisan allegiance, as he has tirelessly campaigned for so many Democrats.
Every candidate should watch the way Brian and Creigh use blogs. They are very effective in communicating with bloggers, getting their message out, while staying out of the flame wars. They do not attack one another, even less attack one another’s supporters, neither do they feed information to reporters or bloggers to do so on their behalf.
GO CREIGH!!! I’ll throw my much awaited endorsement behind him now! He’s a winner, he’s electable, and he doesnt come off a little smarmy….