Democrats enter final stretch

In the final dash to the primary, one Democratic gubernatorial hopeful shopped for votes in a Richmond retail district. Another flooded mailboxes in Northern Virginia. The third dialed for dollars.

Former Del. Brian J. Moran of Alexandria hit Carytown, telling small-business owners around a table in Jean-Jacques Bakery and Café that he, too, ran a small business and "had all the headaches that you do."

He led a 10-person law firm.

Several merchants talked about the struggle of attracting customers who flock to suburban malls, rejecting as too gritty Carytown's urban charm.

Other problems: panhandlers and increased interest rates on credit cards.

Moran again pledged to erase the income tax on businesses making less than $200,000 and promised a $2,000-per-job credit for small firms hiring new workers.

While announcing endorsements from 30 small-business owners, Terry McAuliffe of McLean distributed in the Washington suburbs an updated version of a direct-mail piece criticized by Moran and state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County as inaccurate.

In the latest mailer, McAuliffe again compares his stances with those of his rivals and Republican nominee Bob McDonnell on, among other things, contributions from utilities and firms receiving federal bailout dollars. The flier also revises upward donations to McDonnell from electric giant Dominion Resources Inc. and trims contributions to Deeds from payday lenders.

Though McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, says he won't take money from Dominion Resources because of its opposition to mandates on renewable energy, he has accepted donations from current and retired executives.

And while promising to kick out payday lenders, McAuliffe has gotten $25,000 from the founders of a student-loan firm, EduCap Inc., under scrutiny by U.S. authorities for allegedly predatory practices.

Deeds, buoyed by a SurveyUSA poll showing him still in third in Northern Virginia but moving, chased campaign cash by phone.

He also readied new mail for the region and sat for interviews with news organizations in Washington and the Shenandoah Valley, a heavily GOP area that is part of his rural western base.

The Democratic primary is next Tuesday.

Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or .

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or .