In the Governor's Race, Chasing the Political Punching Bag

RICHMOND -- Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican nominee-to-be for governor in Virginia, spent months gleefully talking about the benefits his campaign would reap while his three Democratic rivals remained locked in a fierce primary battle.

His lack of opposition was supposed to leave him the spring and summer to raise money, organize his campaign and develop a message. "I'm going to run hard while these others guys are fighting," he said late last year.

But that hasn't happened.

In recent weeks, McDonnell has been the target of attacks by state and national Democrats, and even some Republicans, on a variety of issues including abortion rights, gun control, federal stimulus money and his close ties to religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

Several times a week, McDonnell's campaign has been forced to defend itself instead of concentrating on its message. Oftentimes, his office has been left scrambling to respond.

Even McDonnell's kickoff tour last month was overshadowed, first by a battle within his beleaguered party over whether to oust the chairman, Jeffrey M. Frederick, over a series of missteps and internal disagreements, and then by Democrats following him around on the "Results Not Roadblocks" tour.

"Bob McDonnell's got a tough sell if he aims to convince Virginians that he's different from the obstructionist Bob McDonnell that I've known for 15 years," C. Richard Cranwell, chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said during the tour.

Both parties recognize that the stakes are high.

The closely watched race could help determine whether Virginia's gradual shift toward Democratic statewide candidates is solidifying. It will come a year before the rest of the nation returns to the polls for the 2010 midterm elections.

McDonnell said the attacks are a sign that he has built a strong campaign in terms of money and message.

"It's exactly what I thought would happen," he said. "I fully expected to have something like this happen, especially if we were able to show momentum."

A DailyKos/Research 2000 poll this month showed McDonnell leading all three Democrats -- R. Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran -- among those who regularly vote in state elections. More had a favorable view of McDonnell -- 48 percent -- than any of the three Democrats.