At debate, hopefuls clash over road funds

HOT SPRINGS -- The two candidates for governor clashed over transportation funding yesterday in the first debate of the general-election campaign.

Democrat R. Creigh Deeds said Republican Bob McDonnell's transportation plan, announced this week, would take $5.4 billion out of education funding over the next 10 years.

McDonnell said Deeds has no transportation plan.

Deeds said he would make transportation his top priority. He refused to rule out a tax increase and said he would call a special session next year to deal with the issue.

"A whole lot of options are on the table, and I'm not going to presume what will or won't pass the General Assembly next year," said Deeds, a state senator from Bath County.

After the debate, McDonnell said: "You heard the plan from me. My plan is not to raise taxes, to set transportation as a priority and to use creative thinking like the bonds and [proceeds from] offshore drilling."

The candidates appeared before about 500 people during the Virginia Bar Association's annual summer meeting at The Homestead resort.

Both men said bringing jobs to a state that is hurting economically would be a top priority.

"Jobs and the economy are the top issues for me," McDonnell said.

Deeds said McDonnell would pursue the "failed economic policies" of the Bush administration. "We can't afford to go back," Deeds said.

McDonnell said then-President George W. Bush's policies included cutting taxes, which helped spur the economy. He said President Barack Obama's policies will raise taxes and called the president's proposed health-care plan "socialized medicine."

Deeds made few references to Obama and said McDonnell has tried so hard to link him to federal legislation, such as the "cap-and-trade" energy bill and the labor "card-check" bill, that he wonders whether McDonnell is running for governor or for Congress.

In an emotional moment, Deeds, a rural legislator who long has supported pro-gun legislation, said he changed his mind on eliminating the so-called "gun-show loophole" after meeting with grieving parents of Virginia Tech victims.

McDonnell said he remains opposed to closing the loophole, under which a purchaser may buy a firearm from an unlicensed dealer at a gun show without undergoing a background check.

Virginia Tech political scientist Robert Denton said both men did well and seemed well-prepared. Deeds, who sometimes has a halting delivery, "exceeded expectations," Denton said.

The debate "was punch and counterpunch," Denton said.

Deeds offered himself as a political moderate who is able to work with Republicans, as well as Democrats. McDonnell, who stepped down as attorney general to campaign for governor full time, presented himself as an experienced former legislator, businessman, prosecutor and military officer.

Both candidates said they would not focus on social issues such as abortion and gay rights. Deeds favors abortion rights, while McDonnell opposes them.

McDonnell invoked Obama positively, as well as negatively. The GOP nominee said that, like Obama, he wants teachers to be judged on performance and that he favors more charter schools.

Deeds said he helped write a bill that took the cap off the number of charter schools in Virginia.

The state has three charter schools, two in Albemarle County and one in York County. A fourth, Richmond's Patrick Henry School for Science and Arts, is scheduled to open next year, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

McDonnell's transportation plan takes a portion of tax-revenue growth in Northern Virginia and Hampton Road and devotes it to transportation. Deeds said that would hurt education funding, pitting "schoolchildren against transportation."

McDonnell said Deeds has "a wish list" of transportation projects, but no plan for how to pay for them.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .