Another Poll Puts Deeds Up With Virginia Dems -- With McAuliffe In Third
The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of the Virginia Democratic primary for Governor, which is behind held this coming Tuesday, confirms other surveys that have shown state Sen. Creigh Deeds rising to the top -- and that Terry McAuliffe has lost his position as the frontrunner.
The numbers: Deeds 30%, former state Del. Brian Moran 27%, and former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe 26%, within the ±5% margin of error. Two weeks ago, the Kos/R2K poll had it as McAuliffe 36%, Moran 22%, and Deeds 13%.
So what happened? McAuliffe had a big lead for quite a while, thanks in part to a big money advantage -- and on top of that, nobody who had watched him on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in 2008 would ever deny that he's an energetic campaigner. But in recent weeks, Moran began attacking McAuliffe's record in both politics and business, with the ultimate effect of making Deeds the biggest beneficiary in a three-way race.
Josh
Matt
Eric
More importantly -- Creigh Deeds got the Washington Post endorsement.
June 4, 2009 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Somewhere in the bowels of Moran's campaign is a worker saying: "I TOLD YOU it would backfire in a 3-way race."
Not that I would have been able to resist attacking McAuliffe, just on general principle.
June 5, 2009 8:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt anyone will be saying that before Wednesday; while the relative positions have shifted, the differences are still small enough that GOTV will determine the winner.
McAuliffe had tremendous amounts of money, was not well-known to most voters, and his natural base was largely the same as Moran's. To beat him, it was essential to "define him before he could define himself," so while going negative on him carried risks, not doing it was a sure loser. Moran may win, or he may have sacrificed his own candidacy to stop McAuliffe. Either way, he will have performed a great service for Virginia.
(Or McAuliffe could still win. Sigh.)
June 5, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink