Bob McDonnell and R. Creigh Deeds are clashing over ways to revive both the rural economy and an old issue that's new to the 2009 governor's race: abortion.
McDonnell, a Republican, talked up economic development today in Henry County, home to idled Tultex Corp. textile workers who unsuccessfully sought increased unemployment and health benefits that he opposed as a legislator in 2000.
Meantime, Deeds traveled to vote-rich Northern Virginia to attack McDonnell for his opposition to abortion rights -- a topic both candidates said in their debate last month they didn't expect to emphasize.
McDonnell promised to designate a top appointee to oversee rural economic development. He also restated his support of a $1,000 tax credit for each job over 25 that a business creates in an economically ailing region.
The downturn has ravaged textile and furniture manufacturing in Henry County and Martinsville. The county's jobless rate is 15.4 percent; Martinsville's is 21.6 percent -- the highest in Virginia.
"What [rural Virginians] need are the new jobs and opportunities that will allow them to achieve their dreams and grow our economy," said McDonnell, a former attorney general.
As McDonnell rolled across Southside, Henry County's Democratic legislators criticized him in a telephone conference call with reporters as a latecomer to the debate over ways to jump-start the rural economy.
House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong and Sen. W. Roscoe Reynolds noted that McDonnell, as a member of the House of Delegates from Virginia Beach, resisted emergency jobless and health benefits for 3,000 thrown out of work by the collapse in late 1999 of Tultex and other textile firms.
"When it wasn't politically expedient . . . you couldn't get a vote out of him," Armstrong said of McDonnell.
"It would have been wonderful to have Bob McDonnell's help when we needed it," said Reynolds. "It's kind of astounding to me that he says he's seen the light."
The pair also attacked McDonnell for backing cuts in a multimillion-dollar fund the governor uses to close deals with business locating or expanding in the state. McDonnell now favors increasing the fund, which was carved into state law under legislation by Deeds, a state senator from Bath County.
McDonnell spokesman J. Tucker Martin responded: "Ask a voter in Southside: What will help them get a job -- a political attack based on years-old votes or positive policy proposals to create jobs in the future."
Launching "Women for Deeds," the Democrat apparently is using abortion rights to energize his party's base, which published polls suggest has been slow to rally to Deeds.
Deeds said of his support of abortion rights, "I believe it is up to a woman, her family, her doctor and her spiritual adviser to make this decision. My opponent believes government should make this decision."
The Deeds campaign also posted a video on its Web site that spotlights McDonnell's opposition to abortion.
Martin described Deeds as "way out of the mainstream" on abortion because he has opposed, among other measures, legislation prohibiting late-term abortions.
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