The events of this week have revealed what I believe to be an inherent weakness in the Creigh Deeds campaign. In short, this weakness is manifested in Deeds’ inability to reconcile his own political biography with the type of campaign he must run in order to win.
Creigh Deeds is trapped between two worlds. After winning the Democratic nomination for Governor, Deeds found himself neck-in-neck with Bob McDonnell and sought to establish himself as a rural born-and-bred Mark Warner knock-off with his “Deeds Country” ads and insistence at the VBA debate that social issues would not be placed front and center in his campaign.
Unfortunately for Deeds, a few weeks later he found himself faced with a double digit deficit in the polls and flagging enthusiasm for his candidacy from traditional Democratic constituencies. Enter the alter ego, “Charlottesville Liberal Creigh Deeds.” All of a sudden there is shouting from the rooftops about abortion and proclaiming in today’s Washington Post that “This election is not about where you’re from, it’s about what you stand for.” Well, I guess that’s the end of “Deeds Country” then.
What is even more funny about Deeds’ statement above is that, while we have seen over and over in this campaign what it is McDonnell stands for (i.e. Bob’s for Jobs), the only two things it seems that Deeds has stood for so far are 1) unlimited abortion rights and 2) much less specific versions of whatever his opponent suggests on transportation, education, the economy, etc.
Finally, while it quite clear that Bob McDonnell is comfortable in his own skin right now, Deeds’ campaign seems ill at ease no matter what the surroundings. In another similar piece in today’s Post about Bob McDonnell’s ties to Northern Virginia, Deeds whines that “When he’s in Northern Virginia, he sends flowers that say ‘I’m from Fairfax.’ He sends flowers in Virginia Beach that say ‘I’m from Virginia Beach,’ . . . He lives in Henrico County.”
I cannot help but laugh at Deeds’ complaint that, essentially, his opponent has a more compelling personal and political biography than he does. Now whose fault is that, Creigh? While Bob McDonnell has lived the type of experiences that suburban voters throughout Virginia can identify with, Creigh Deeds is stuck attempting to appeal to a liberal base that is well outside the mainstream and an ever-shrinking swath of rural voters who largely agree with his opponent on the issues.
Frankly, it is a difficult balancing act to maintain and even tougher to find a winning coalition there. Over the next few months we will be watching closely to see if Deeds can pull it off.
