Virginia Democrats, who helped vault Barack Obama to victory last year with massive turnout, are showing little sign of repeating that same level of enthusiasm to support candidates in November.
Only 20 percent of likely Deeds voters rate themselves as “very enthusiastic” about the Democratic candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds, compared to 35 percent for GOP nominee Bob McDonnell, according to a Washington Post poll released last week.
Worse still, the number of Democrats who aren’t inspired by Deeds equals those who are excited about his candidacy, with 20 percent of his likely voters ranking themselves as not enthusiastic about his candidacy. That is more than three times the number of likely McDonnell voters — six percent — who said they were unenthusiastic about the GOP nominee.
Gov. Tim Kaine said Thursday that Deeds can win if he reinvigorates the mass of voters who registered and cast their ballots for Obama in 2008, the first time the state has broken for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. Obama garnered nearly 2 million votes in the commonwealth. Kaine and other Democratic leaders have urged Deeds to turn his campaign to more positive messages in the final weeks of the race, in the hopes of building up enthusiasm for the rural state senator. As if on cue, the candidate launched two ads last week with affirmative messages, highlighting his rural roots and jobs plan.
