For Deeds, over the last few days, that has meant a new and possibly surprising push into Northern Virginia, where he is trying to convince voters he is a viable option despite a career spent casting himself as a conservative Democrat and a voting record to match. (Check out this television ad from Deeds' run for attorney general, in which he is praised for his "conservative values.")For convenience purposes, I've uploaded the video to YouTube. Why am I encouraging people to view this video? Very simple: I'm a proud progressive Democrat who wants to elect progressives wherever possible. Of course, I know that isn't always possible, and I certainly support a "big tent" party that includes moderate or even proud conservative Democrats, like Creigh Deeds. However, given a primary that offers me the choice between a self-professed "conservative values" Democrat (Creigh Deeds) on the one hand, or a progressive Democrat (Terry McAuliffe) on the other, I'm going to pick the progressive every time, barring some overriding issue of electability or something else that prevents me from going in that direction.
In this case, I honestly don't believe that either Creigh or Terry is a better man than the other one or clearly more electable against Bob McDonnell. In fact, neither Creigh or Terry will have an easy race against McDonnell, although I certainly believe we can beat that guy if we have the resources to let people know who he really is. If anything, though, I'd note that Terry's the one who will have those resources and will set up the clearest contrast, not "conservative values" Creigh Deeds (as much as I like him personally). Also, I would point out that Deeds ran against McDonnell once before, and (most unfortunately) lost. Perhaps it's time for Democrats to try someone else and see if we get better results?
