This article epitomizes much of what I've been hearing all summer about the Deeds campaign:*"...the campaign has been slow to reach out to local elected officials."
*"For some reason, there seems to have been a lack of sensitivity to Northern Virginia," said Mayor Bill Euille, who has yet to be asked for a formal endorsement. "But that’s being resolved."
*"The campaign is moving along, although it could be better," said Euille. "I think they are realizing they need to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s."
*"In the past, it hasn’t been clear that suggestions from local officials were being heard," said Del. Adam Ebbiin (D-49). "But the Deeds campaign has improved its communications."
*"Some of us would have liked to have seen Creigh come out stronger a little earlier," said Del. David Englin (D-45), describing the Deeds campaign as "uncomfortably silent" over the summer. "They don’t always take our advice."
In short, the Deeds campaign had a rocky summer, even (especially?) in Democratic strongholds like Alexandria. Undoubtedly, many of the problems were due to a lack of resources coming out of the bruising, three-way primary this past June. Others were due to the Deeds campaign's surprising, even stunning, come-from-(way)-behind victory, which left the campaign unprepared for the general election, which it didn't expect to make it to until the last few weeks of the primary contest. Still others were due to lack of communications (including the willingness to really listen and to take advice), as pointed out by Mayor Euille and Delegates Ebbin and Englin, and as I've heard from just about every Democrat I've spoken with at one point or the other during the past few months.
Fortunately, things appear to be improving with the Deeds campaign. No, Susan Kellom is NOT correct that "there’s nothing but enthusiastic support for the Deeds campaign in Alexandria." That's utterly ridiculous. In fact, one of the main challenges for the Deeds campaign over the next 46 days lies exactly in this area - cranking up enthusiasm, volunteerism, and ultimately Election Day turnout among Democrats in core "blue" areas like Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax, Richmond City, Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, Petersburg, Hampton City, Roanoke City, Charlottesville, etc.
Based on what I'm hearing, this could be problematic. For instance, last night's Arlington Young Democrats meeting reportedly had attendance of only around 30 people, extremely low for mid-September in a gubernatorial election year. According to one long-time, active YD, attendance was possibly the "lowest I've ever seen." Unfortunately, this does not appear to be an isolated case in Arlington (or Alexandria), and that's not good at all, given that those two jurisdictions delivered a nearly 45,000-vote margin to Tim Kaine over Jerry Kilgore in 2005. That same year, Arlington and Alexandria delivered a 40,000-vote margin to Creigh Deeds over Bob McDonnell - 5,000 votes fewer than for Kaine over Kilgore - in a race that Deeds ultimately lost by 360 votes. In other words, if Arlington and Alexandria had delivered to Deeds in numbers even close to what they delivered for Kaine four years ago, Bob McDonnell would never have been Attorney General and almost certainly wouldn't be the GOP gubernatorial candidate this year. Which is exactly why it's absolutely crucial that the Deeds campaign "dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s" in core "blue" areas like Alexandria over the next 6 weeks.
