Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell delivered the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s weekly radio address Saturday, two days after Obama appeared with Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds at a rally in Northern Virginia.
McDonnell devoted much of his address to jobs and the economy, invoking the commonwealth in his argument against Congress’s proposed cap-and-trade legislation.
He said that he recently visited Mead West Vaco, a packaging company in Covington, Va. with about 1,500 employees.
“They told me that cap and trade, if passed, would threaten those good jobs,” he said. “Mark George, the vice president of the facility, told me this: ‘I feel that the next governor of Virginia, and every representative we have, should care about keeping those good jobs in Virginia.’ I agree.”
Unlike his Democratic counterpart Deeds, McDonnell has been eager to broach national topics during his campaign. Deeds spent more of his time talking about Virginia leaders than national figures when he appeared with Obama at a rally last Thursday; he passed on discussing the president’s policy battles on health care and the environment.
In his Saturday address, Obama devoted much of his time to health care, saying that “we must lay a new foundation for future growth and prosperity, and a key pillar of a new foundation is health insurance reform.”
McDonnell also touched on the contentious issue, throwing his support behind free-market initiatives for health care reform.
His address comes as both national parties step up efforts to boost support for their respective candidates in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, which some are touting as a referendum on the president and his policies.
Still, McDonnell also took the opportunity to talk up other plans specific to the Old Dominion.
“In Virginia, I’m calling for environmentally friendly offshore drilling, selling state-run liquor stores to put more cash into transportation, and expanding access for Virginia students at our colleges,” he said.
Virginia’s former attorney general closed his address by praising the president’s effort for education reform through expanding charter schools and performance pay for teachers and principals.
“Now that’s a bipartisan reform that will help all our children get the education they need today to get those good jobs of tomorrow,” McDonnell said.
