Romney, Giuliani stump for Va. GOP ticket

A day after President Barack Obama rallied Democrats in Norfolk for gubernatorial nominee R. Creigh Deeds, national Republican headliners hopscotched Virginia for front-runner Bob McDonnell.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a once and future presidential prospect, appeared with McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and attorney general hopeful Ken Cuccinelli, stopping in Henrico County to echo the campaign's jobs-and-economy theme and help pad campaign coffers.

"We recognize that the reason you're seeing governors, former and current governors, come here to support his team is because we recognize that if Virginia is doing well there's a much better prospect that all of America will do well," said Romney.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani another Republican presidential candidate in 2008, also blitzed Virginia for the GOP ticket.

Meantime, Deeds rolled out a two-minute video on his Web site recapping the Obama visit Tuesday and imploring volunteers to join the get-out-the-vote effort that Democrats say can salvage Deeds' struggling campaign.

In a conference call with reporters, Deeds strategists Mo Elleithee and Joe Abbey said the candidate's voter-mobilization drive, including door-to-door visits and telephone banks, would contact more than 1 million Virginians by Election Day.

Discouraging polls notwithstanding -- two more today showed Deeds trailing in double digits -- "we are very much in this game," said Elleithee.

Also, the gubernatorial rivals unlimbered new television commercials -- Deeds posting an advertisement spotlighting his big-city newspaper endorsements; McDonnell, a candidate-to-camera appeal for votes.

Romney headlined a fundraiser for Bolling tonight at the home of developer Hank Wilton that was expected to draw about 250 and generate more than $100,000.

Bolling backed Romney for the 2008 Republican nomination, while McDonnell supported Fred Thompson, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee.

McDonnell dispatched Giuliani to appear with former Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore at events in Fredericksburg, Dumfries and Springfield. Kilgore, the defeated GOP candidate for governor in 2005, backed Giuliani for president last year.

On Thursday and Friday Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is expected to campaign with the ticket, starting early tomorrow morning in Henrico.

Steele's counterpart at the Democratic National Committee, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, heads to New Jersey Thursday to appear on behalf of Gov. Jon Corzine, who is locked in a three-way race for a second term.

Kaine is scheduled to make three stops in the Garden State, including visits with labor and Hispanic voters, according to the New Jersey Democratic Party.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only states choosing governors this year. Because Obama carried both states in 2008, their elections are viewed as a referendum on his policies.

A day after Obama appeared on his behalf, Deeds today met with leaders of Charlottesville's African-American community before discussing higher education with students and faculty from Northern Virginia Community College in Sterling.

He kicked off a canvass in Reston before hitting the Vienna Halloween parade with the rest of the Democratic ticket -- lieutenant governor nominee Jody Wagner and attorney general candidate Steve Shannon.