From the Washington Post:

Deeds Throws Abortion Gauntlet by Rosalind S. Helderman

Surrounded by female activists and lawmakers, Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds on Monday launched an assault on his opponent’s record of working to restrict abortions, calling it evidence that the Republican has the wrong priorities for the state.

The Women for Deeds event, at the Northern Virginia Community College campus in Annandale, was the first of three this week at which Deeds will highlight Republican Robert F. McDonnell’s history on the issue. McDonnell introduced numerous bills on abortion during his 14 years as a delegate from Virginia Beach.

Deeds’s message could energize a Democratic base that has been showing signs of sluggishness since last year’s overwhelming victory in the presidential election. It could also chip away at McDonnell’s campaign promises that he would focus on education, jobs and transportation if elected governor.

It is amusing that the Democratic candidate brought up the social issues first.  Republican’s are often accused of creating division with social issues.

Many commentators are calling this a risky move.  I don’t think it is.  He is simply trying to fire up his base.   He is losing badly in the polls and he needs a way to get the lead that McDonnell has down into the single digits.  This may be an issue that helps him do that.

I for one hope it fires up the pro-life community.

Is the Race for Governor More About Obama? by Sandhya Somashekhar

There is no empirical evidence at this point in Virginia’s race for governor showing that huge numbers of voters think like Cleland and will respond by sending a message to Washington. But Obama’s policies are nonetheless having immediate consequences in the campaign as the candidates adjust their strategies to account for the president’s controversial domestic agenda, which has overshadowed many state issues.

The question I have is will Obama make it about him? Keeping Virginia in Democratic hands seems to be important to him. I am sure it is important to Gov. Kaine. Obama won in Virginia just last year, but how much political capital is he going to spend on a governors race. And a governors race that doesn’t seem to be going well for the Democratic candidate at the moment. Creigh may be able to turn it around and Obama may be the person to help him. Maybe a win here would show people that he hasn’t lost his pull with the voters. We will have to wait and see.

The Washington Times has an article today on this issue, as well.

Mr. Obama, his popularity sagging amid doubts over his handing of health care and the economy, could be a liability for the Virginia Democratic candidate, according a poll published Wednesday.

Nine months after he shocked the nation by becoming the first Democrat to carry Virginia in a presidential election in 44 years, Mr. Obama has an approval rating of 42 percent among the state’s residents, according to the survey by nonpartisan Public Policy Polling, which is based in Raleigh, N.C.

New poll numbers coming out today look good for McDonnell, Bolling and Cuccinelli.

It is still early and I haven’t been seeing a lot of ads for anybody just yet.  I am sure they will start in earnest in September and we will be bombarded with political ads up until November.  We will see what the poll numbers say then.  Right now these camps should be happy.  It is always good to be ahead in the polls.