Two veterans, one whirlwind face off for Va. governor nod

The Democratic race for governor began as a face-off between two veterans of the state legislature: Sen. Creigh Deeds and former Del. Brian Moran.

Moran, of Alexandria, was the urban liberal, and Deeds, from Bath County, was the rural conservative.

Then the Terry McAuliffe whirlwind arrived.

A national political operative close to both Clintons, he shook up the race with his fundraising skills, celebrity supporters and large campaign staff.

Tuesday, voters head to the polls to pick which of the three will face Republican Bob McDonnell in the November election.

Turnout will be low if history is any indication; probably fewer than 10 percent of the state's 5 million-plus registered voters will cast ballots.

The race is a toss up entering its final days, according to recent polls.

Many voters remain undecided, even as attack ads have intensified and the candidates scramble this weekend to make final visits with voters across the state.

So get-out-the-vote efforts will be crucial in a contest where the candidates' personalities differ more than their stances on the economy, transportation, education and the environment.

"You can carve out a scenario where any of these guys could do well enough to win," Christopher Newport University political science professor Quentin Kidd said.

Kidd said one path to victory for McAuliffe is high turnout among black voters in Hampton Roads and Richmond.

For Deeds, it's undecided voters breaking his direction while the other two candidates split smaller totals in urban centers.

Moran, he said, may need a strong showing in vote-rich Northern Virginia to prevail.

On a late spring evening, Moran and Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones strolled along a cobblestone city street, deep in conversation.

The staccato shutter click of a photographer snapping pictures, a swirling breeze and the sounds of birds chirping and car engines made it hard to hear.

Photos taken that day ended up in a mailing Moran sent to voters. He hopes they will do for him what they did for Jones: promote him from the legislature to a top executive job.

"These are difficult times. Three hundred thousand Virginians have lost their jobs. Thousands have lost their homes to foreclosure. I'm running for governor because people need someone to fight for them," Moran told a reporter after Jones left.

"That's what I have been doing as a prosecutor, legislator, Democratic leader," he added, enunciating each word in his Boston accent for emphasis.

On the stump, he also harkens back to his parents' struggles to provide for their large Irish Catholic family, drawing a parallel to what Virginia families face during the current recession.

From those beginnings, Moran rose to become an Arlington prosecutor before his election to the state House of Delegates in 1996.

His older brother, Jim Moran, is a U.S. congressman from Northern Virginia.

Moran, 49, has tacked left on several campaign issues, namely offshore drilling, which he strongly opposes. He also wants to repeal the state constitutional amendment that limits marriage and legal unions to a man and a woman.

His economic vision centers on what he calls a "Main Street" philosophy - he favors increasing the state's minimum wage and providing aid to small businesses through tax credits and exemptions in some circumstances.

Moran likes to stress his endorsements from local officials across the state - evidence, he says, of the work he has done for Democrats during his career.

Like Moran, Deeds emphasizes his humble upbringing when making the case for himself.

His family roots are in rural Virginia, but he was born in Richmond because his parents came to the capital city to find work.

"I'm from a part of the state where there's not a lot of opportunity," Deeds said in a recent interview. "So the entire time I've been in the legislature I've been focused on bringing jobs to Virginia."

Seated at a folding table with a telephone in a small room at his Richmond campaign office, Deeds spent part of that afternoon talking to donors about helping his campaign.

He was in fine spirits - The Washington Post had just endorsed him.

Deeds had been running behind Moran and McAuliffe but has been climbing in the polls since that day, prompting some observers to praise him for running an effective campaign with relatively limited resources.

His path to political prominence began when he was elected Bath County commonwealth's attorney in 1987. A few years later, voters sent him to the House of Delegates, and then the state Senate.

In 2005, he narrowly lost the attorney general election to Bob McDonnell - Deeds was outspent 2-to-1 but lost by a mere 360 votes out of more than 1.9 million cast.

That showing, Deeds says, makes him the most likely Democrat to defeat McDonnell in November.

And his past votes on bills protecting certain gun rights, among other issues, could appeal to conservative-minded voters.

"I've taken some stands that probably aren't politically in my interests all the time because I thought they were the right thing to do," he said.

As governor, Deeds says, his early priorities would be to get a transportation funding plan through the legislature and boost education spending. Those steps would stimulate the economy, he contends.

If there is a wild card in this election, it's McAuliffe.

Loud and energetic, he burst onto the scene late last year and doesn't seem to have taken a breather since.

Whether at large rallies or more intimate campaign events, McAuliffe is usually the wide-eyed one with the booming voice and flailing arms talking about turning chicken waste into an energy source or the big business deals he could consummate as governor.

"Of the four running for governor, I'm the only one who has legitimately created thousands of jobs, who would bring a business experience to the job and who has not been part of the partisan battles in Richmond," McAuliffe said in a recent interview.

Unlike Deeds and Moran, McAuliffe doesn't have a legislative record to dissect.

Instead, aspects of his background in business and as a national political fundraiser for the likes of Bill and Hillary Clinton have been used by his opponents to criticize McAuliffe as a Washington insider with limited ties to Virginia.

Blessed with big donors, McAuliffe has been able to rapidly respond to barbs he's faced, often releasing a television commercial or radio ad the same day he gets zinged.

McAuliffe, 52, will tell you he's the can-do candidate, a man full of ideas and the connections to convert concept to reality.

That attitude has served him well during his life, McAuliffe says, taking an enterprising youngster from Syracuse, N.Y., to a heavyweight status among the Beltway crowd.

McAuliffe says he would bring those instincts to Virginia, making it a leader in the production of alternative energy and using incentives to lure business.

One industry he doesn't want, however, is payday lenders. McAuliffe has said he would work to ban them from Virginia if elected.

A Northern Virginia resident, McAuliffe has been backed by labor unions and several Democratic governors from other states.

Whoever wins, Democrats are eager to extend their eight-year hold on the governor's mansion.

And Republicans hope to reclaim the seat as a foothold for their party's national rebound.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com