I got myself chewed out by the Creigh Deeds campaign last week as being “irresponsible” for reporting on a story circulating in Democratic circles about apparent conflicts between the Deeds camp and the Democratic National Committee over the direction of the Deeds effort.
Looks like I’m not the only “irresponsible” journalist diving into the What is Deeds doing? thicket.
Asked by Politico about the other prime-time governor’s race ongoing in New Jersey, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said, “Corzine wins,” referring to the race between incumbent New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican opponent Chris Christie. The followup about Virginia got this answer from Schweitzer: “That’s a flip of the coin. I don’t know which way that one ends.”
That’s according to a report published on Sunday by Politico. Schweitzer, meanwhile, revealingly told the Washington Post on Friday that he has had little contact with the Deeds campaign since Deeds won the June 9 Democratic Party primary.
Keep in mind that Schweitzer personally endorsed one of Deeds’ primary opponents, Terry McAuliffe, in the primary. Also keep in mind what the AFP reported on Thursday regarding how the DGA had made a $250,000 contribution to the Deeds campaign a day earlier, on Sept. 30, the last day of the Sept. 1-30 reporting cycle for finance reports due in to the State Board of Elections.
That donation pushed the DGA’s investment into the Deeds campaign to $507,500 in the Sept. 21-30 period, according to data available on the Virginia Public Access Project website.
So even though Schweitzer himself has not had much contact with the Deeds campaign since the June 9 primary, the DGA clearly has.
Two unnamed senior Democrats were also quoted in the Politico piece. The first feels “great” about the New Jersey race. Unprompted, the senior Democrat added, “Virginia – not as much.” The second thinks Deeds has to be able to “turn the corner” from the controversial 1989 Bob McDonnell grad-school thesis “and put together a real positive message addressing voter anxieties.”
Maybe there was something the Deeds folks should have been doing other than expressing their upset with the messenger.
– Column by Chris Graham
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