Democrats seized yesterday on recent remarks by the state Republican Party chairman to brand Republicans as insensitive to rural Virginians. In a conference call with reporters, Democratic gubernatorial nominee R. Creigh Deeds and the state Democratic Party chairman, C. Richard Cranwell, called on Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell to apologize for Pat Mullins’ remarks.

If you want to know where Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is, just ask him. That’s the message Kaine delivered yesterday to state Republican critics who say he has been sneaking off to tend to his high-profile, part-time job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The Republican Party of Virginia yesterday requested under the Freedom of Information Act records of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s out-of-state travels and state expenditures related to his work as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Lynda Tran, a spokeswoman for Kaine, said the office will respond to the FOIA request the same way it treats all FOIA requests.

The Democratic candidates for governor talked unity yesterday, while Republicans went on the attack against new nominee R. Creigh Deeds. Flanked by the current governor and wearing the campaign stickers of the man who routed them in yesterday’s primary, Democrats Brian J. Moran and Terry McAuliffe pledged to unify behind Deeds and work to help him defeat Republican Bob McDonnell this November.

State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli scored a firstballot victory yesterday for the Republican attorney general nomination, completing a conservative ticket anchored by Bob McDonnell for governor and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. Cuccinelli, 40, and Bolling, 51, won by such wide margins at the state Republican convention in Richmond that they were declared victors by acclamation.

Pat Mullins of Louisa County has been endorsed for chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia by gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and Virginia’s five Republicans in the House of Representatives. Mullins, elected chairman by the party’s state central committee this month, is seeking re-election at the state convention in Richmond on Saturday.

Bill Stanley, a Franklin County lawyer and county Republican chairman, announced his candidacy yesterday for chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. He will oppose Pat Mullins, the Louisa County chairman who is a former chairman of the Fairfax County committee, at the state GOP convention May 29-30 in Richmond. On Saturday, Mullins was elected chairman by the party’s ruling body, the state central committee. He replaced Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick of Prince William, who was ousted by the committee last month because of fundraising and election woes that have befallen the Republican Party since Frederick became chairman.

Ousted Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick said yesterday that he will not seek to regain the post at the state convention this month, but he urged his supporters to vote against the new chairman, Pat Mullins.

The Republican Party of Virginia’s central committee yesterday elected Pat Mullins of Louisa County, a longtime GOP activist, as the party chairman. Mullins will run again for chairman at the state convention May 29-30 in Richmond, when Republicans nominate candidates for statewide office. Mullins, the Louisa County chairman and a former chairman of the Fairfax County committee, was unopposed yesterday but is likely to have opposition at the convention.