The latest on McDonnell's transition team

Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell announced several more appointments to his transition team Friday, including several familiar faces from his time as attorney general and his campaign.

The appointees are:

Janet Polarek,  deputy director, personnel and administration. Polarek managed McDonnell's 2005 campaign for attorney general, served as director of administration in the AG's office, and was chief operations officer for his gubernatorial campaign.

Eric Finkbeiner, director of policy. Finkbeiner served in the Wilder and Allen administrations, advising Allen on transportation, the environment and crime. Most recently, he's worked as a lobbyist for McGuireWoods Consulting. He's registered to represent, among others, Smithfield Foods, Waste Management, CVS Caremark RX and the American Petroleum Institute, according to records compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project.

Melissa Laughner, assistant director for policy. Laughner was special assistant for governmental affairs in the AG's office and served as policy director for the campaign.

Mike Reynold, assistant director for policy. Reynold was a deputy campaign manager and in 2008 was state director for McCain for President.

Jasen Eige, counsel . Eige was chief of staff and counsel in the AG's office and counsel to McDonnell's campaign.

Dave Rexrode, director of community outreach. Rexrode has worked on several Republican campaigns and was a deputy campaign manager for McDonnell.

Monica Block, scheduler. Block served in that role for the gubernatorial campaign.

Block served as scheduler for McDonnell’s gubernatorial campaign. She has previously worked on campaigns for former Virginia Congressman Tom Davis and former Virginia State Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis.

Adam Zubowsky, aide. Zubowsky served as Fairfax field director for the campaign.

- Meredith Kruse

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Two VA Dems on 'high alert' list

Although images of Republican Election Night dominance are still fresh, gazes are already turning to the 2010 elections and which Democrats may be vulnerable in those races.

An article published by the online Politico publication counts two Virginia officials on its list of 10 endangered federal legislators: Congressmen Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello, both freshmen Democrats elected last year.

While the mid-terms loom next year, there is still plenty of available analysis about the sweep of statewide offices by Republicans Tuesday night.

Virginia GOP spokesman Tim Murtaugh reminded reporters in an e-mail that Bob McDonnell's winning vote total exceeds that of any previous governor, while a blogger on the left provides some perspective on what went wrong for Democrats.

-- Julian Walker

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A challenger for Bobby Scott?

After running unopposed in the past two elections, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott might have competition in 2010.

Coby Dillard, a paid worker for Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell’s campaign and a Norfolk resident, said Wednesday he’s considering seeking the Republican nomination to run against Scott, a Newport News Democrat, in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Dillard, 29, is active in the Tea Party movement - an anti-tax group that opposes the federal stimulus packages and bailouts of large private institutions.

Finance reports for McDonnell’s successful gubernatorial bid show that between May and Octobe 16, Dillard was paid $13,948 as a campaign worker, according to The Virginia Public Access Project.

On his Web site, Dillard, who grew up in Richmond and served six years in the Navy, cited his personal beliefs on many issues, which he calls “The Dillard Doctrine.”

“I don’t support any system, program or entitlement that gives preference to one over another. People should succeed - and experience failure – on their own,” he wrote.

He opposes forcing gun owners to register their weapons, wants parents to decide which school their children should attend and opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants.

“I also believe that our country is a Christian nation,’’ he wrote, adding that while he respects other religious traditions, he cannot “subordinate my beliefs to anyone in the name of political correctness.”

Scott, 62, who was elected to his first two-year term in 1992, has won reelection seven times. His last opponent was Winsome Sears, a Republican, in 2004, whom he defeated by a 2 to 1 margin.

- Bill Bartel

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'Virginia Beach's Newest State Delegate'?

The headline above quotes a press release sent Monday by the campaign of John Amiral, a Republican trying to unseat Democratic Del. Paula Miller in the 87th House District.

There's just one small problem with that statement -- and it's not the assumption that Amiral will be victorious.

(There is a sense among some that the Miller-Amiral race has suddenly grown competitive in the waning days of the campaign.)

The real issue is that the district seat he seeks only includes Norfolk precincts and does not cover any portion of the Beach.

Amiral, however, is hardly the first candidate whose campaign has made a written gaffe during this political season.

Earlier this year, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds' campaign issued a statement that incorrectly referred to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

And during the spring Democratic primary, Brian Moran's campaign mistakenly referred to Del. Kenny Alexander, D-Norfolk, as "Kelly" in a statement.

-- Julian Walker

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Reed group funds Palin robocalls on election eve

Ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Palin ... brought to you by Ralph Reed.

The former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate is featured in robocalls blanketing thousands of Virginia households on the eve of Tuesday's gubernatorial election.

The recorded phone calls are funded by the Virginia chapter of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a new organization aimed at mobilizing evangelical Christian voters.

The group is the creation of Ralph Reed, who gained national fame running televangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition during its heyday in the 1990s, when it was based in Chesapeake.

These days Reed is a political consultant in Georgia. He lost a bid for lieutenant governor there in 2006, hurt by his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The Palin robocalls don't mention any candidate by name. The ex-governor just urges Virginians to "vote to share our principles." Like the Christian Coalition, Reed's new group is organized as a tax-exempt charity that is not allowed to explicitly endorse candidates.

Republican candidate Bob McDonnell, a law grad of Robertson's Regent University, has broad support among evangelicals but has downplayed social issues in this campaign. He has kept his distance from Palin, a lightning rod who is beloved on the religious right but has high negatives among other voters.

-- Bill Sizemore

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More encouraging numbers for McDonnell

Election eve numbers from Public Policy Polling show Republican Bob McDonnell leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by 14 points in the gubernatorial race.

The PPP survey lists the contest 56-42 percent (with 2 percent undecided) in favor of McDonnell. It comes just days after a Mason-Dixon poll showed the Republican up by 12 points.

McDonnell's sizable overall lead -- the poll puts him ahead among independent voters, too -- could sweep his GOP ticket mates for lieutenant governor and attorney general into office and grow Republican, the poll suggests.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) leads Jody Wagner (D) 54-41 percent in the lieutenant governor race, while Ken Cuccinelli (R) has a 55-39 percent advantage over Steve Shannon (D) in the attorney general race, according to the PPP sample of 1,457 conducted by an automated telephone system this past weekend.

“The streak of good elections for Democrats in Virginia ends tomorrow,” Public Policy Polling president Dean Debnam said in a statement attached to the poll. “Republicans are going to sweep the statewide races and the only real suspense is by how much.”

And it's not just professional pollsters predicting a McDonnell victory.

Results from two student mock elections released in recent days both predict McDonnell wins.

The Republican received nearly 51 percent of the more than 313,000 votes in the national Youth Leadership Initiative Mock Election, a project of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

McDonnell won by a larger margin in the National Student/Parent Mock Election, earning 55 percent of the nearly 4,000 votes cast by Virginia students.

-- Julian Walker

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A 'landslide' in the making?

Two new polls showing Republican Bob McDonnell with sizable leads over Democrat Creigh Deeds less than one week before Election Day have added to the chatter among Virginia politicos and pundits that the gubernatorial race is effectively over.

Rasmussen Reports has McDonnell up 13 points (54-41 percent, with 4 percent undecided), while a Virginia Commonwealth University survey out Wednesday puts the Republican's margin at 18 points (54-36 percent, with 11 percent undecided).

Those polls come on the heels of two surveys out Tuesday -- one from Public Policy Polling and another from The Washington Post -- which also gave McDonnell double-digit leads days before the Nov. 3 election.

While methodologies differ from poll-to-poll -- some rely on live telephone interviews, others use automated phone systems -- their results continue to suggest that McDonnell is poised for a dominating win.

"I think it's very likely to be a landslide," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, who defined a landslide as an election in which the victor gets more than 55 percent of the vote.

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore was the last gubernatorial candidate to score a "landslide" victory by receiving 55.8 percent of the vote in the 1997 election with former Lt. Gov. Don Beyer.

At a rally with President Barack Obama in Norfolk Tuesday, Deeds expressed optimism that a win remained within reach.

However unlikely that outcome may be, Sabato conceded, anything's possible.

"There's always a chance. But I don't see how," he said about a possible come-from-behind Deeds win. "Something could come out between now and then. Obama's visit may have energized African Americans, and pigs may fly by my window."

-- Julian Walker

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New poll: McDonnell up 15 pts. on Deeds

Add Public Policy Polling to the list of surveys showing Republican Bob McDonnell's lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds growing as Election Day approaches.

A poll from the firm out Tuesday shows McDonnell ahead of Deeds 55-40 percent (with 5 percent undecided) in the gubernatorial race and suggests that some Democratic voters now see a Nov. 3 victory by the GOP candidate as a fait accompli.

McDonnell's current 15-point margin is higher than his lead in a PPP survey from last week which showed him atop Deeds 52-40 percent.

“At this point it’s pretty hard to see Creigh Deeds pulling it out,” said Public Policy Polling president Dean Debnam. “The numbers have been moving consistently in Bob McDonnell’s direction over the last month."

Deeds will be joined by President Barack Obama at an Old Dominion University rally this afternoon, hoping that an appearance alongside top Democrat in the land will spur scores of voters to cast ballots for him next week.

If the PPP numbers accurately reflect the mood of the electorate, next week's election seems to be shaping up as a sweep for the GOP.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) leads Jody Wagner (D) 50-38 percent in the race for lieutenant governor, while Ken Cuccinelli (R) tops Steve Shannon (D) 52-36 percent.

The North Carolina-based PPP surveyed 729 likely Virginia voters from Oct. 23-26 and has a 3.6 percent margin of error. The firm gathers responses using an automated telephone system that some pollsters consider less reliable than those collected from live interviews.

-- Julian Walker

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Whither Warner?

All the attention on former Gov. Doug Wilder's non-endorsement in the current gubernatorial race made us wonder what other prominent Virginia politicos haven't weighed in on the contest.

(Citing concerns about Creigh Deeds' positions on taxes and gun issues, Wilder, a Democrat, last month declined to back the party's nominee for governor.)

It occurred to us that one person who has remained quiet about the race is venerable former U.S. Sen. John Warner, a Republican who concluded a 30-year tenure in Congress early this year.

We caught up with Warner by telephone at his Washington, D.C. law office this week (incidentally, he is a partner at Hogan & Hartson, a firm that was involved in the clemency petitions for the Norfolk Four).

Warner said he hasn't publicly backed a candidate for governor because he pledged not to inject himself into politics after leaving office.

"As a public figure walks the path of life, there comes a time when you must step off and let the others who come behind move ahead and take over your responsibilities," said Warner, paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson.

Although he isn't endorsing anyone, Warner said he will vote for the GOP ticket -- headed by Republican Bob McDonnell -- on Nov. 3.

But while Warner and McDonnell belong to the same party, they aren't philosophically simpatico on all issues.

For example, the moderate Warner championed climate change legislation in the Senate.

McDonnell, a conservative, has railed against federal measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the campaign and used the topic as a wedge issue against Deeds.

Warner was cheery and diplomatic during the phone call; he didn't delve into weighty political issues.

"Just say you had a nice conversation with the old boy," he said with a chuckle.

-- Julian Walker

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Cuccinelli's new ad

Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Steve Shannon (D) have done their darndest to out-lawyer the other in this year's attorney general race, which makes sense given that both men are auditioning to be Virginia's top prosecutor.

The latest swipe in the back-and-forth comes in Cuccinelli's new campaign ad, which splices footage from a recent Prince William County debate to make the point that Shannon doesn't understand the functions of the office he seeks.

The footage shows Cuccinelli asking Shannon to name the numerous divisions in the Attorney General's Office. Text that flashes across the screen claims Shannon spoke for 2 minutes without answering the question, leading some audience members to audibly urge Shannon to respond.

Shannon campaign spokesman Brian Coy called the spot "the latest gimmick from a candidate who has no public safety experience and no plan to make Virginia safer" and claimed Cuccinelli "will use the office as a vehicle for his own ideological crusades."

The running debate over who better understands, and will enforce, the law has been a dominant theme in the race -- from fixing state evidence laws to reactions to a ethics investigation of a legislator -- and the subject of several campaign ads. 

Also Wednesday, Democrats spun out a Web video highlighting Cuccinelli's "radical agenda," which the party claims includes global warming denials and opposition to stem cell research.

And both campaigns touted dueling endorsements, Shannon from The Washington Post and Cuccinelli from The Washington Times.

Cuccinelli and Shannon are scheduled to debate again Thursday in Richmond.

-- Julian Walker

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