Blogger Dinner with Creigh Deeds Team

I just got back from a blogger dinner at Liberty Tavern in Arlington with the victorious Creigh Deeds for Governor team. Bloggers present included Ben Tribbett (NLS), Ken Bernstein (Blue Commonwealth), Chris Guy (Fred2Blue), Bryan Scrafford (Left of the Hill), and Adam Siegel (who mainly blogs on national environmental and energy issues). Deeds' campaign manager and newly minted "rock star" Joe Abbey patiently answered all of our questions. There was even a special guest appearance by the candidate himself, who was passing through the neighborhood en route to Oakton/Vienna. Although obviously this will be a tough race against a strong (but definitely not "moderate") Republican opponent, I'm definitely feeling confident about this campaign as it kicks off.

In related news, the Deeds campaign is on a hiring spree:

...Deeds has brought on [former Moving Virginia Forward Executive Director Matt] Felan to serve as his finance director. Other new hires include Mark Giangreco as policy director--Giangreco last worked for Terry McAuliffe's campaign. Also on board, Mike Gehrke as director of communications--Gehrke's worked for two presidential campaigns.

Sen. Mark Warner is meanwhile loaning his communications director Kevin Hall to the effort, where Hall will serve briefly as senior advisor, helping get Deeds' communications team set up. Hall also served press secretary to Gov. Tim Kaine.

...DPV spokesman Jared Leopold is going over to the Deeds camp also, where he will serve as the campaign's press secretary through November.

Having worked with many of these people, I can definitely say that these are excellent hires. Nice job by the Deeds campaign!

P.S. Another great hire which I wrote about Monday is (former) DPVA Executive Director Levar Stoney as political director.