"Creigh Deeds is committed to transparency in government"

Can we say "delicate balancing act"?

With all this talk about Gov. Tim Kaine's refusal to release his political schedule, we wondered what the men wanting to replace him think about the ongoing debate.

Both Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell told us that they would disclose complete schedules, including political activities, if elected.

Deeds was careful not to criticize the man whose coattails he is trying to ride into the governor's mansion, but made it clear he would handle the situation differently.

We tried to get Deeds directly on this topic, but he would not make himself available. His spokesman Jared Leopold said: "Creigh Deeds is committed to transparency in government."

Personally, I don't think this is really a serious issue, but I suppose it could have some resonance with the public. The Washington Post apparently thinks so, as does Bob McDonnell, who is busy grandstanding about how he would "not accept any other full time jobs during my four year term" if he's (god forbid) elected governor. That's wonderful, I'm so excited, now can we get back to talking about the issues that Virginians really care about, like the economy, jobs, jobs, jobs, and oh yeah jobs?

By the way, speaking of discussing the issues Virginians really care about, Bob McDonnell is calling for 10 statewide gubernatorial debates with Creigh Deeds. According to McDonnell, he wants to "travel the state from late July through late October debating Creigh on jobs, transportation, education, economic development, health care, the environment, public safety, taxes and spending in front of audiences in every region." Yeah, I can't wait to hear McDonnell tell us how cutting taxes for rich individuals and corporations, curtailing the rights of workers, trashing the environment, being super-ideological/non-pragmatic on everything, and allowing the government to have its nose in our bedrooms are the answers to the challenges facing Virginia these days. Should be fascinating.

UPDATE: Ryan Nobles reports, "CreighDeeds is "eager" to debate. He said he will agree to around the same number of debates as Warner-Early, Kaine-Kilgore races."