Creigh Deeds for Governor
Democrats in Virginia will be voting on Tuesday between 3 candidates for Governor in this year’s off-off-year election. The choice is between Terry McAuliffe, former money man for a former president; Brian Moran, brother to a congressman and my former state Delegate; and Creigh Deeds, a state senator from the rural south of Virginia.
I’ll be voting for Creigh Deeds. From his official campaign biography:
He wrote Megan’s Law, which allows public access to the state sex offender registry, and sponsored the Amber Alert Program to keep our children safe. Using his relationships with law enforcement officers and his experience as a prosecutor, Deeds wrote the state law that has turned the tide against homegrown illegal methamphetamine drug labs.
In addition to his work to cleanup the Kim-Stan landfill Superfund site, Senator Deeds also wrote one of the most progressive laws to preserve open space and protect the environment. For his leadership and advocacy, he received the Leadership in Public Policy Award from The Nature Conservancy and the Preservation Alliance of Virginia named him Delegate of the Year.
Despite being in a conservative area, Deeds has been an outspoken protector of the environment, has taken an avid interest in good government issues like redistricting, and placing a premium on investment in early childhood education.
He has stood by as the other candidates bash each other over the head in the fight for liberal special interest groups. This has diminished his campaign financing, but leaves him with better positioned to take on Republican Bob McDonnell, whose partisan posturing is not what Virginia needs this year.
McAuliffe set his ambitious ego’s sights on the Governorship without any prior activism in the state, thinking his ties to the Clintons would be enough to buy the office. Brian Moran started out hiring all the big talent and splurging his campaign dollars on expensive consultants, but was so self-centered on his race that when he gave up his Delegate seat to campaign full-time, the special election nearly resulted in a Republican winning because no GOTV effort had been made in his own home district. What does that say about either man’s Governorship should they win?
When the Washington Post endorsed him, they said Deeds would be “the best governor in the Warner-Kaine tradition”. That is, he’ll be pragmatic, willing and able to work with both sides of the aisle, but recognizes the right priorities for our state government. And I agree, which is why I’ll be voting for him.
I haven’t been following this all that closely, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what are the substantive differences between Deeds and Moran? I don’t know much about either, except that Deeds has the WaPo endorsement on his side and Moran supposedly has the backing of most of the Fairfax area Dems.
As I understand it, Deeds in his voting record is a moderate in what I call the “Bill Nelson tradition” – sounds conservative when he needs to, but on most party priorities, he’s with us. Moran, on the other hand, is a pretty standard liberal.
I don’t think there are all that many substantive differences – I think Deeds is pro-gun, while Moran’s, and that might be the only serious difference.