How Low Can Creigh Go? Deeds Doubles Down on Negative Campaign

RICHMOND- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds’ has taken his already historically negative campaign to a new low today with his latest attack ad running in Northern Virginia. In the new ad, Deeds delves deeper into desperation with attacks on Bob McDonnell based on, among other things, where he is from and where he went to school.

Deeds’ latest negative, false attack ad comes one day after The Lynchburg News and Advance editorialized: “Deeds and his hired campaign staff, arguably, have reached new lows for campaign negativity in Virginia.”
The attack ad also comes after Governor, and Democratic National Committee Chairman, Tim Kaine; Democratic Congressman Jim Moran; and even former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe pleaded with Deeds’ to cease with the negative campaign.

In the new attack ad, which fittingly, given the claims and content, is a cartoon, the Deeds campaign says the following about Bob McDonnell’s background:

1) “Bob McDonnell says he’s from Fairfax County…”

FACT: Bob doesn’t just “say it”, he actually is from Fairfax County. It’s where he grew up. It’s not a point of dispute.

MCDONNELL PLEDGE: The McDonnell campaign will not run ads that remark “Creigh Deeds says he’s from Bath County.” We know he grew up there. It’s not a point of dispute for us.

2) “But that was before he attended Pat Robertson’s law school….”

FACT: Bob McDonnell attended The University of Notre Dame, Boston University, and Regent University.
MCDONNELL PLEDGE: The McDonnell campaign will not run ads that attack Creigh Deeds’ for attending Concord College or Wake Forest University. However, we will root against Wake Forest anytime the Deacons play UVa or Virginia Tech.
3) “..he wrote that working women are detrimental to the family..”

FACT: Army veteran Jeanine McDonnell, Maureen McDonnell, Cailin McDonnell, and women who have worked with Bob McDonnell have all made clear the truth about where Bob McDonnell stands. Virginians trust their voices and personal stories on this issue far more than a cartoon attack ad by a desperate opponent.

MCDONNELL PLEDGE: The McDonnell campaign will continue talking about the future of Virginia, and how to create the jobs we need, improve our schools, get spending under control and get traffic moving again. We will leave divisive, false and backwards-looking attack ads to our opponent, who appears to know how to do little else.

4) “...he introduced 35 bills on abortion..”

FACT: This is a lie. From The Waynesboro News-Virginian editorial “Deeds, Teller of Tall Tales” September 23, 2009

“It’s not true, however, that McDonnell during 14 years as a state delegate introduced 35 anti-abortion bills. In fact, just eight of almost 400 bills he introduced opposed abortion.”

MCDONNELL PLEDGE: Again, we will continue talking about positive solutions for Virginia’s future, and leave the false, divisive and negative attacks to our opponent.

5) “....voted against equal pay for women.”

FACT: Bob McDonnell strongly supports equal pay for women in the workplace. He wants that for his oldest daughter, who served in the Army in Iraq, and now works in Suffolk. For his second-oldest daughter who works in politics here in Virginia. And for his youngest daughter who is in her last year in college and will be joining the workforce next summer. This resolution in question was not a vote on equal pay. This resolution would have created no new law, had no binding effect, and would have done nothing to establish equal pay.
MCDONNELL PLEDGE: Again, we will continue talking about positive solutions for Virginia’s future, and leave the false, divisive and negative attacks to our opponent

Given this latest attack ad, its no wonder that newspapers across Virginia have said the following about Creigh’s desperate, divisive, false and negative campaign:

“One of the pernicious successes of right-wing showmen is to convince the more weak-minded of their fans to scorn their local newspapers—appendages, allegedly, of the cursed Mainstream Media (MSM), which hates Republicans, conservatives, and all things true-blue American. But this characterization will not withstand the Creigh Deeds for Governor campaign, which has united the commonwealth’s newspapers in expressions of distaste.

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, October 6, 2009, “Monsieur Mud”

“There you have it then, the Deeds formula for governing, to avoid being wrong by being nothing, to draw lines in the air. He is the political equivalent of the Sandman of ‘Spider-man’ movie fame. Attempt to squeeze him for definition on an issue and he seeps through the fingers. He takes form only while swinging away at the opposition, but look upon Deeds himself and one sees only the sand shifting.”

Waynesboro News Virginian, October 6, 2009, “A candidate absent Form”

“Instead of showing Virginians his plan for how he’ll improve transportation and education and ease unemployment without taxing them all into the poorhouse, Deeds has been running one of the dirtiest campaigns in recent memory. There’s a reason he keeps muddying the campaign waters. He doesn’t want voters to notice the empty suit behind his scurrilous attacks on McDonnell.”

Washington Examiner, October 4, 2009, “Dirty Deeds muddies campaign waters”

“It is a rare politician who unites newspaper editorial boards across the political spectrum and across the state of Virginia. Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds has done just that: Throughout the state, observers agree that he is running a flatly dishonest advertising campaign that discredits his own claim to be worthy of the office.

.... Those are harsh words, but Mr. Deeds deserves every one.”

The Washington Times, September 30, 2009, “Dirty Deeds”

“His (Deeds) television ads have been below-the-belt and beyond-the-pale attacks. The most egregious was the spot entitled “$300 Million,” which has been on a constant loop in Central and Southwest Virginia. The ad outright blames McDonnell for the increase in electricity bills that Appalachian Power Co. customers have seen in recent months, a blatant lie and distortion.”

Lynchburg News & Advance, September 27, 2009, “Governor’s Race Devoid of Issues, Filled With Fibs”

“The Democratic nominee appears to believe his only hope for victory lies in sliming Republican Bob McDonnell.

.......But [McDonnell] has built a record of pragmatic accomplishment, both in the House of Delegates and as attorney general. He has earned a reputation as being willing and able to work across the aisle to solve problems.

All politicians attempt to draw caricatures of their opponents. But Deeds is crossing the line. His overwhelmingly negative campaign leaves an especially sour taste given the lack of specifics in his own platform. We are, for instance, dumbfounded by his refusal to make a clear stand on the intersection between taxes and transportation. Apparently, his leadership on the issue would involve signing whatever the General Assembly sends his way. If it means higher taxes, well, that’s apparently no problem at all. And we are worried about Deeds’ reluctance to take the stage with McDonnell. A governor must be willing to face his constituents and the political opposition. Why is Creigh Deeds so afraid?”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 24, 2009, “Creigh Deeds: Fear and Loathing”

“But ‘effective’ need not, and should not, be confused with ‘credible’ or ‘believable.’ Save for his overriding ambition, Mr. Deeds appears to be little more than the political manifestation of Gertrude Stein’s Oakland: There is no there there. Especially when it comes to policy formulations on roads, jobs and the economy that amount to scarcely more than a wink, a nod and an entreaty to ‘trust me.’”

The Daily News Record, September 24, 2009, “Change and Evolve”

“The ad in question, which has been shown in our part of the state, outright blames McDonnell, then the state’s attorney general, for Appalachian Power Co.‘s recent series of rate hikes.

It’s an outright lie, and the good senator and his campaign operatives know it. APCo, under the law (a law Deeds voted for as a state senator) is indeed entitled to collect certain costs and expenses from its customers. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but to suggest, as he does in the ad, that there was a dark cabal between the GOP, McDonnell and Big Power (to coin a phrase) is disengenous, at best.”

Lynchburg News and Advance, September 20, 2009, “Voters Deserve Details, Specifics From Hopefuls”

“Before customers who have choked on high electric bills break out their pitchforks and go after McDonnell, they should know that Deeds’ ad is not honest.”

“.....to pretend that McDonnell did anything but represent consumers and uphold the law is deceptive. Deeds should be ashamed.”

The Roanoke Times, September 18, 2009, “McDonnell Didn’t Decide Rates”

“The ads raise questions about whether Deeds even wants to be part of a solution. The Democrat has said he will work to build support for a transportation plan if he’s elected governor. He’s been unwilling to say how he’d pay for road improvements, but Deeds did commit to signing a package that includes taxes as long as it has bipartisan support.

This commercial .....should lead many voters to question whether Deeds has any intention of making the hard decisions necessary to undo a generation of fiscal mismanagement in Richmond.

Deeds has spent the summer telling voters why they shouldn’t vote for McDonnell, but precious little time explaining why they should vote for him. Deeds has spent a month trying to scare Virginians about McDonnell’s past as a cultural conservative, but too little explaining his own vision for Virginia’s future…..

.....Hampton Roads desperately needs a leader with the vision to recognize the region’s most pressing needs and the courage to solve them. Deeds has suggested that he wants to be that leader, but right now he looks like just another politician who cares more about winning than about solutions.”

The Virginian-Pilot, September 16, 2009, “Deeds has problem on transportation”

“More to the point, Deeds apparently hasn’t noticed the yawning void in the middle of his campaign where vision and ideas ought to be. First, he stammers about abortion, an issue that surely will not win him an election. Then he rolls out a presidential testimonial. What of how the commonwealth might be run? What of transportation? What of job creation? ....

.....One might disagree with McDonnell on how he expects to go about governing, but he has provided detailed plans, which is ordinarily just the sort of thing Democrats do, ad infinitum….

.....We know the president likes Deeds. Surprise.But we don’t know what Deeds might do if he catches the office he seeks. Hearing nothing from him gives the impression that Deeds is a man without a plan. It is not an image that appeals.”

The Waynesboro News-Virginian, August 28, 2009, “Deeds: Man without plan”

“Gov. Tim Kaine, Rep. Jim Moran, former DNC head Terry McAuliffe, Doug Wilder—and no doubt many other influential Democrats—have a message for Creigh Deeds: Tell Virginia what you’re for, not just what you’re against. A Washington Post poll shows Deeds trailing badly. If he is to win, something must change. It may be too late. Deeds’ negativism may have been the campaign’s crucial hinge.

.... To compound the matter, Deeds has displayed a puzzling reluctance to debate McDonnell, or even to appear solo in the kind of unscripted public forums that are a staple of political campaigns. His campaign ads are mostly about . . . McDonnell. He has avoided TV appearances on FOX and CNBC. We haven’t seen a candidate so reluctant to engage the public since Benjamin Harrison’s front-porch campaign of 1888.

There’s a huge difference between the sentiments, “Vote for me” and “Don’t vote for him.” Deeds has offered the public numerous arguments for the latter. He’s offered precious few for the former—which leaves one wondering if he has any.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 12, 2009, “Going Positive”

“Deeds, the upset winner of the Democrats’ June primary, has been struggling ever since, lagging in every single poll taken during the race.

He’s refused to flesh out any of his positions on any of the major issues in the race: transportation, education, economic development. His prefered approach has been to sell his folksy style and, since August, trash his GOP opponent at every chance.

From McDonnell’s infamous 20-year-old grad school thesis to the outright lies and distortions in TV ads blaming the Republican for higher electricity bills, Deeds and his hired campaign staff, arguably, have reached new lows for campaign negativity in Virginia.”

The Lynchburg News & Advance, October 12, 2009, “Going Negative Always Wins, Right? Maybe Not”