NRA spends $537,216 on ads for McDonnell

The powerful National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund has spent $537,216 to buy TV and radio commercials supporting Bob McDonnell in the Virginia governor's race.

The group, which has 120,000 Virginia members, backed Republican gubernatorial nominee McDonnell last month. It was a reversal of the NRA's stance of four years ago, when the group endorsed McDonnell's rival Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, when the two competed to be attorney general.

The Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan watchdog group of money in politics, reported the Oct. 1 expenditure.

Also joining the rotation of political commercials is Jody Wagner, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, who released her first TV ad in the general election campaign yesterday. It's an introductory piece that talks about her work as a former secretary of finance and state treasurer.

Her Republican rival, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, is running two TV ads.

Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, yesterday visited businesses in Arlington County with Sen. Mark R. Warner, a former governor, and three other Democrats.

McDonnell, a former state attorney general and a former Virginia Beach delegate, dispensed handshakes and encouraging words to inmates in the Richmond city jail during his third visit to the overcrowded facility.

In a nearly hourlong tour, McDonnell addressed inmates who were participating in programs to improve their education and prepare them for re-entry into society.

McDonnell spoke with Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody about the effects of a bill he pushed to create a comprehensive transition plan for inmates, including educational, vocational and therapeutic programs upon leaving jail. The measure passed last year.

McDonnell said he was not satisfied it was being implemented as well as it should be.

"There's vast room for improvement," Woody replied.

McDonnell later said, "It is smart government to reduce recidivism."

Also yesterday, McDonnell's campaign called on two breast-cancer survivors to attack Deeds for running a radio commercial suggesting that McDonnell supports employers dropping mammograms and cancer screenings from their health-care plans.

In 2006, as attorney general, McDonnell did not sign a National Association of Attorneys General form letter opposing a federal proposal to allow businesses to drop insurance coverage for state mandates, such as cancer screenings and mammograms.

Bill Mims, who succeeded McDonnell as attorney general, said a travel issue kept McDonnell from signing. McDonnell would have signed it had he had the chance, Mims said. Cancer survivors Betsy Beamer, a Republican former secretary of the commonwealth, and Stephanie Hamlett, a deputy attorney general, said Deeds was playing on women's fears.

The Deeds campaign stood by the ad, saying McDonnell could have signed the letter late, as two other attorneys general did. Forty-one attorneys general signed the letter, spokesman Jared Leopold said.

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

Staff writer Tyler Whitley contributed to this report.