Republican Bob McDonnell is favored by 53 percent, while Democrat R. Creigh Deeds is preferred by 41 percent—a widened lead from an early October survey for the newspaper. Six percent are undecided in the latest poll.

Bob McDonnell is favored by 53 percent, while Democrat R. Creigh Deeds is preferred by 41 percent — a widened lead from an early October survey for the newspaper. Six percent are undecided in the latest poll.

McDonnell Deeds The Republican statewide ticket rolled into the GOP heartland yesterday exuding confidence but urging stepped-up get-out-the-vote efforts. “Put up the last sign, talk to someone at the water cooler, send out another e-mail,“ gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell told about 75 Republicans crowded into the Homemades by Suzanne catering shop in Ashland.

An endorsement from The Washington Post played a crucial role in Creigh Deeds’ victory in the Democratic primary. Many observers say it played the crucial role and propelled Deeds to the win. Support from The Post clearly legitimized Deeds, especially in Northern Virginia. The newspaper’s backing reminded voters they had an alternative to the bickering duo of Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran. The editorial’s preference for a rural candidate over two Northern Virginia swanks enhanced its credibility.

Sensing a winner, out-of-state high rollers are pumping fistfuls of cash into Bob McDonnell’s gubernatorial campaign, while Democrats suggest Republicans and their allies are outspending R. Creigh Deeds on television nearly 2-to-1. While burning through millions of dollars on advertising, mail and voter mobilization in the run-up to Tuesday’s election, the candidates yesterday dashed through the Richmond area, reaching out to key constituencies.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, ex-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York campaign for McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and attorney general hopeful Ken Cuccinelli.

Last year Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Virginia since Lyndon Johnson won the state in 1964. On Tuesday, he led a Norfolk rally to boost the flagging gubernatorial campaign of Creigh Deeds. Deeds confronts a curse that has seen Virginia elect a governor from the party opposite the president in every election since 1977. It has not elected a Democratic governor when a Democrat occupied the White House since 1965. Yet even at this late hour, fate might side with Deeds. Consider the LBJ precedent. The polls show Deeds losing ground, nevertheless.

Having previously distanced himself from the president as a potential liability, R. Creigh Deeds now is embracing Barack Obama in what may be the Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s last chance to shift momentum.

A.T. Massey Coal Co. gave $40,000 on Monday to Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell and $10,000 to GOP attorney general hopeful Ken Cuccinelli—an example of the kind of money being plunked down in the closing days of the statewide contests. While those were among the larger contributions that came in this week, donations of $5,000 or more are being received by candidates of both parties, and special-interest groups are continuing their push, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Despite court prodding and changes in state election laws, 16 Virginia localities have failed to meet a deadline to allow absentee ballots of military personnel serving overseas to be counted on time. Nancy Rodriques, secretary of the State Board of Elections, said she did not know how many ballots will not be counted. The local election districts include the cities of Richmond, Colonial Heights and Williamsburg as well as Caroline County.

Republican Bob McDonnell enters the countdown to the gubernatorial election comfortably ahead in the latest poll and flush with cash, while Democrat R. Creigh Deeds is looking to a presidential visit today to boost his lagging campaign. On the eve of President Barack Obama’s appearance with Deeds at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, a poll by The Washington Post yesterday showed McDonnell leading by 11 percentage points—55 percent to 44 percent.

Creigh Deeds likes to remind people that he’s a fast closer. After all, he zoomed from last place back in June to score an easy victory in the Democratic primary for governor, topping two formidable opponents. And four years ago, he was trailing Bob McDonnell in the final weeks of the campaign for attorney general, only to lose to the Republican by a mere 360 votes.

A steady, raw drizzle descends on Petersburg as the Chevy Suburban carrying Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Creigh Deeds pulls into the parking lot of Virginia State University. On this soggy Thursday night, VSU is playing host to Virginia Union University in the annual gridiron clash between the historically black schools. Deeds, 51, a state senator from rural Bath County, isn’t about to play favorites. To have any chance of winning Nov. 3, he will need just about every eligible vote in the sodden stands.

R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor, is promising fattened jobless pay and health insurance for thousands who will be thrown out of work by the shutdown of a paper plant near Franklin. Deeds, who visited the International Paper Inc. factory Thursday, said on a conference call with reporters yesterday that the closing is “just devastating” and will leave a “gap in the landscape of Isle of Wight County.“

Although The Washington Post endorsed Creigh Deeds for governor last Sunday, yesterday’s editions did not report happy news for the Democratic nominee. According to a Page One story, White House insiders already are blaming the Deeds operation for what they see as an inevitable defeat. The goal is to shift blame from the Obama administration to the Deeds team, which, the high-hat schemers assert, did not follow advice from the Obama apparatus or, for that matter, from Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee who moonlights as governor of Virginia. The unnamed sources cowered behind anonymity.