Deeds captures narrow lead over rivals in new poll

Lifted by a new poll showing him creeping ahead after trailing for months, R. Creigh Deeds is flooding Northern Virginia with mail and phone calls, challenging his rivals for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination on their home turf.

Terry McAuliffe of McLean and Brian J. Moran of Alexandria yesterday aimed new television commercials downstate and dashed through Richmond, seeking votes ahead of next Tuesday's primary.

The candidates are accelerating their appeals -- via paid advertising and media interviews -- to what is expected to be a sliver of the electorate, perhaps less than 5 percent of Virginia's 5 million registered voters.

Deeds, a state senator from rural Bath County, has overtaken McAuliffe in the latest survey by Public Policy Polling, holding a statistically insignificant lead of 3 percentage points. Moran was a close third, and all three were within the poll's margin of error.

But last month, a survey by Public Policy Polling showed McAuliffe in front with 30 percent, followed by Moran at 20 percent and Deeds at 14 percent.

Deeds, who isn't advertising on Washington-area television because he's short of cash, is turning loose another wave of direct mail in the vote-rich region -- this time built around endorsements from five fellow Democratic state senators, all Northern Virginians.

The senators -- Janet D. Howell, Richard L. Saslaw and Chap Petersen, all of Fairfax County; Mary Margaret Whipple of Arlington County; and Charles J. Colgan of Prince William County -- also are lending their actual voices to automated phone calls.

"We have shifted some of our resources to Northern Virginia," Deeds press secretary Brooke Borkenhagen said. "We'll continue to focus heavy resources up that way."

McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, met with about 40 volunteers and staff members at his Richmond headquarters near Virginia Commonwealth University and cautiously predicted victory.

Rolling up his shirt sleeves and occasionally sipping a diet cola, McAuliffe urged supporters to press on: "We've got about six days to go. Don't sleep; it's overrated. Sleep when you're dead."

Through his spokeswoman, McAuliffe -- scolded by his opponents for taking about $12,000 in contributions from retired and current executives of Dominion Resources Inc. while refusing checks from the utility's political-action committee -- challenged his rivals for accepting donations from the company, despite its opposition to mandatory renewable-energy standards.

"That's gotten a great reception from Virginians who are tired of the old way things happen in Richmond," McAuliffe press secretary Lis Smith said.

Moran, a former member of the House of Delegates, has collected about $25,000 from Dominion Resources. Deeds, who has a Dominion Resources facility in his Senate district, has received $32,500.

"For years, I've taken on interests," Moran said.

Said Borkenhagen: "Terry's trying to mislead Virginia voters -- the record is clear on that."

Moran visited a physician's office in Richmond's Jackson Ward, a historic black neighborhood. Talking up his plan to strengthen health care, Moran shook hands and posed for photographs with patients of Dr. Richard A. Jackson.

Turning to his get-out-the-vote effort, Moran alluded to the complexities of a three-way primary: "This has been somewhat of a chess game to get people's attention to my message."

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

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