Obama urges Democrats not to quit on Deeds
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
October 28, 2009
 |
| President Obama, center, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, right, and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, left, wave to the crowd during a rally for Deeds in Norfolk, Va., on Tuesday. (Steve Helber/AP) |
NORFOLK - President Obama presented a united front with Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds on Tuesday, urging supporters not to see the race as a lost cause even as polls show victory for the Democrat to be an increasingly tough prospect.
Obama, standing before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 5,000 at Old Dominion University, said Republican nominee Bob McDonnell could be defeated if the same voters and volunteers who helped put him in office last year could mobilize for Deeds before the Nov. 3 election.
"Now, we're a week from Creigh Deeds' election, and a lot of people are saying, 'The polls don't look the way we want them to, I'm not sure it's going to happen,' folks are just kind of staying home," the president said. "Let me tell you something: I don't believe in can't, I don't believe in giving up, I don't believe that we would turn our back on the progress that [Gov.] Tim Kaine has made here in Virginia."
Obama sought to cast Deeds in the mold of both Kaine and former Gov. Mark Warner, now a U.S. senator. It's part of a late-game strategy shift for Deeds, whose campaign was mostly given over to divisive social issues and McDonnell's 1989 graduate school thesis.
"[Deeds is] someone who listens to folks even when we don't always agree; someone who focuses not on the short-term politics of an issue, but on a practical and pragmatic vision for the future of this commonwealth," Obama said.
McDonnell's lead growsThe last four polls of the race, including two released Tuesday, give a double-digit lead to McDonnell. As of last week, McDonnell held a 2-to-1 cash-on-hand lead over Deeds, according to campaign finance reports.» Polls released Tuesday demonstrated McDonnell's widening lead over Deeds, who hasn't pulled ahead of the Republican since he won the primary in June. Both showed the Republican leading among both male and female voters, and among all age groups. A day before, a Washington Post survey found McDonnell ahead by 11 points.
SurveyUSA McDonnell: 58 percent Deeds: 41 percent Public Policy Polling McDonnell: 55 Deeds: 40
The Bath County state senator acknowledged the gap in the race, but evoked his reputation as a strong finisher who is comfortable running behind.
"If I believed every poll I ever looked at, I would have quit this process long ago," Deeds said. "Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated."
Deeds, when he ran against McDonnell in the 2005 attorney general's race, trailed the Republican in polls but came within about 400 votes of winning -- the closest margin in statewide political history. Deeds spent much of the 2009 Democratic primary largely counted out, but steamrolled his two Democratic rivals in June, winning about 50 percent of the vote.
The president's speech comes amid reports that the Obama administration is preparing to wash its hands of a Democratic rout in the commonwealth. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, answering a question Tuesday on the stakes of the Virginia governor's race, pointed to a Washington Post poll in which 70 percent of voters said the president was a non-factor in their choice for governor.
Deeds, at the same time, has sought to distance himself from national Democratic policy proposals that could alienate potential crossover voters, refusing to embrace cap-and-trade legislation and a government-run health insurance option.
