President Barack Obama made his first foray into the Virginia governor’s race Thursday, rebutting stimulus critics while casting Democrat Creigh Deeds as a pragmatist “cut from the same clothÓ as Govs. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
Obama spoke to a crowd of 1,800 at the McLean Hilton, according to campaign estimates. He described Deeds, a Bath County state senator, as similar not only to Virginia’s current and former Democratic governors, but also to Obama himself: Both Obama and Deeds grew up poor, valued education and shared “sort of funny names.Ó
But much of his speech was given over to counterpunching critics of the $787 billion recovery package. Obama laid the blame on the Bush administration for racking up deficits, and said the nation may be “seeing the beginnings of the end of the recession.Ó
The event’s purpose was as much to lend Deeds national star power as it was to re-energize a base of phone callers and door knockers who will determine the election’s outcome — especially in swing counties like Loudoun and Prince William.
The appearance was the first in what is expected to be several presidential visits to Virginia ahead of the November election. The White House hopes to aid a candidate whom polls show lagging behind Republican nominee Bob McDonnell.
Deeds spent more time discussing Virginia’s chief executives than national leaders and declined to wade into to any of Obama’s ongoing policy fights on health care or the environment.
The candidate instead focused on education. He said he backed the president’s plan to expand charter schools and pledged to increase teacher pay to at least the national average. He attacked McDonnell as antagonistic to public education, arguing his transportation plan would divert billions in K-12 dollars over the next decade.
“In a Deeds administration, short-changing education is not an option,Ó he said.
He took a page out of the playbook of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, one of Deeds’ vanquished primary rivals, proposing to forgive the student loans of teachers who serve “in the toughest school districts.Ó
During a primary debate in May, Deeds invoked the student loan plan in questioning whether the commonwealth could afford to pay for McAuliffe’s campaign promises.
