Congratulations to the Washington Post for winning the caption contest with “HE DID IT!!”; close runner-up to J.R. with “You think HE can pull MY numbers?!”
Wow. That’s really all I can say after the Democratic White House proceeded to throw Creigh Deeds directly under the bus today. These breakdowns from today’s articles really tell the story. AP:
Obama travels Tuesday to that state [Virginia] to campaign on behalf of Democrat Creigh Deeds in a gubernatorial contest that is shaping up to be the GOP’s to lose. Deeds is trailing Republican Bob McDonnell in the race for the seat left open by term-limited Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine.
Even as Obama openly campaigns for Deeds, Democratic allies of the White House are trying to insulate the president from fallout from any loss by arguing that Deeds is a flawed candidate who has run a flawed campaign.
..
…Obama aides are realistic about Deeds’ chances in a state that Obama won last November. That hard-fought victory was especially prized since Virginia was reliably Republican in national races before that.
WaPo with some choice quotes:
Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say.
..
A second administration official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Obama, Kaine and others had drawn a road map to victory in Virginia. Deeds chose another path.”
How about the real reason President Obama is coming to Hampton Roads, guys?
Obama is returning to appear with Deeds in the Tidewater region of Virginia next week, but White House officials suggest that is being done out of both party loyalty and to aid Gov. Tim Kaine, the outgoing Virginia governor, DNC chairman and president’s close friend.
To sum up the White House stance:
But privately, administration officials said they see almost no way for Deeds to win on Nov. 3.
Then the Deeds campaign rebuts:
Asked to respond, a senior Deeds adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “I have no interest in doing a postmortem on a race that we’re working hard to win and that we think is still winnable. I don’t see a need for either side to be critical — we’re all fighting for the same thing.”
Okay, okay, not bad, stay on message. Wait…what’s that? Ask ‘legendary’ Democratic consultant and Deeds adviser David “Mudcat” Saunders? CNN did:
“They’re making the assumption Virginia is a blue state, and it’s not,” Saunders said of the administration. “It’s not a red state either. The very best that can be said about Virginia is that it’s light purple. For them to say if he had listened to us they would win, that’s chickens**t. That’s Monday morning quarterbacking.”
..
“It’s a g-ddamn shame when our center of government, the White House, won’t talk on the record. I discount all of it,” Saunders said of the Post article. “It’s a lack of courage. And it goes against transparency that Obama told us last year was going to come out of the White House. Anybody who makes anonymous quotes out of the White House should be fired.”
Creigh Deeds response on a conference call with reporters today?
“I understand the article says we didn’t follow their advice,” he said under questioning from TPMDC. “But I don’t know what that’s about. I honestly don’t.”
This also gives me the chance to highlight previous national Democratic quotes about Deeds:
When questioned about the Obama factor and the backdrop in which Deeds is running, a top Democrat shot back: “If I were in their shoes and had a candidate who fumbled the tax question and was stupid enough to write an op-ed saying I’m going to raise your taxes, I’d be complaining about [the environment], too.”
I love stories that need no further explanation and commentary. Luckily for Deeds this was another of his patented Friday afternoon stories. A full week to talk about this one and we might see Bob McDonnell crack the +20 margin!
