Deeds makes his pitch at 11 area churches

CHESAPEAKE

Prayer stopped for a few moments Sunday at 11 churches in Chesapeake and Portsmouth as pastors allowed time for a little bit of politicking between hymns of joy and sermons of salvation.

State Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. came to visit, bringing along Democratic candidate for governor Creigh Deeds and envelopes of tickets to one of the hottest political events in Hampton Roads this season.

Conducting what has become a tradition for Democrats running for high statewide posts, Spruill led Deeds on a five-hour whirlwind tour of Sunday services, with staff members and reporters in tow. At each stop, Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, had a chance to say a few words and to stand with Spruill, who enjoys strong support among the black church community in Hampton Roads.

Spruill has done similar tours with U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner during their campaigns, as well as with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

Timing is everything, Spruill said, adding that you can never forget that these are church services.

" As long as I come in before they're preaching, they just stop for us," he said.

Deeds acknowledged he was intruding.

"I'm humbled to be on the pulpit," he told the congregation at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Portsmouth. "I know Sunday morning is not a time for politics. It's a time for worship."

He talked briefly about his agenda if he wins the Nov. 3 election but elicited the strongest reaction when describing how he was labeled a "nobody from nowhere" by a newspaper columnist after he was defeated in the 2005 race for attorney general.

"The implications of that sentence are pretty frightening," he said. "If a state senator, even a state senator from Bath County, who grew up in a trailer with not much of anything, is a nobody from nowhere, then there's a whole lot of nobodies and there's a whole lot of nowheres. Virginia needs a governor that is going to work for everybody."

He was applauded at several churches.

Spruill came bearing gifts of his own, giving each pastor one or more envelopes of tickets to the Deeds campaign rally Tuesday in Norfolk that features President Barack Obama.

Deeds, who trails Republican candidate Bob McDonnell in voter opinion polls, reminded his audiences that Obama's victory in Virginia a year ago was due to a 74 percent turnout.

"I need your help," he said.

Several of the ministers, all Baptists, praised Spruill and gently ribbed him about being a Methodist but avoided any outright endorsement of Deeds.

Some, such as the Rev. Kim Brown of Mount Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church in Chesapeake, urged their congregations to get involved in the election.

"I want you to understand that not voting is a sin," Brown told more than 1,000 attending his service. "God said give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.... He's not just talking about taxes. He's talking about participating in government."

At New Galilee Baptist Church in Chesapeake, March Cromwell reminded his fellow parishioners that they have the power to make change.

"We can make history," Cromwell said. "One time we were picking cotton in November. This time we can pick a governor in November."

The Rev. Jake Manley Sr., leader of Bethany Baptist Church in Chesapeake, told Deeds that he would pray for him but added "my prayers will be short unless you're like Mark Warner."

Deeds nodded and smiled. But just to be sure, Manley asked for and received Deeds' personal cell phone number.

Bill Bartel, (757) 446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com