GOP reclaims Virginia

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Virginia elects a new governor

Virginians went to the polls Tuesday for an off-year election with races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the state House of Delegates, and they handed the Republicans their first governor's race win since 1997 and first House gains since 2001.

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Deeds called McDonnell to concede shortly before 9 p.m. "Just because we didn't get the right result tonight doesn't mean we get to go home and whine," Deeds told supporters. "We still have fight, we still have spirit."

Thesis attack fails

From the start, McDonnell had history on his side: Since 1977, no party that has won the White House has gone on to capture Virginia's governorship the next year.

McDonnell's campaign -- supported, like Deeds's, with millions of dollars from his national party -- was on the defensive for only a few weeks, starting with the publication in August of a Washington Post report detailing a master's degree thesis the candidate wrote in 1989 at what is now Regent University in Virginia Beach. In the thesis, written at the Christian-oriented school founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, McDonnell, then 34, outlined an action plan for strengthening the traditional family and wrote that working women were detrimental to the family.

Deeds seized on the thesis, making it the centerpiece of an advertising campaign designed to convince voters that McDonnell was a right-wing extremist who had undergone a disingenuous campaign-year makeover.

The strategy appeared to work for a time, as polls tightened. But McDonnell fought back with a series of TV spots featuring supportive testimonials from his daughter, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, and a gallery of professional women who had worked for him in the attorney general's office. Increasingly, voters said they saw Deeds's campaign as a largely negative one that failed to define his own vision for the state.

McDonnell campaigned on his opposition to federal policies. He criticized the Democratic-led effort to change the nation's health care system and sided with southwest Virginians who believe that proposed federal legislation designed to curb greenhouse gases would cost jobs in the coalfields of that region.

The Republican also relentlessly attacked Deeds over the Democrat's willingness to raise taxes for transportation improvements. A key turning point in the campaign came in September, when Deeds was caught on camera flailing when swarmed by reporters asking whether he would raise taxes to pay for road improvements.

The moment, immediately cut into TV ads aired repeatedly by McDonnell and the Republican Governors Association, highlighted Deeds's stammering speaking style, caught him snapping at a reporter and made him appear indecisive on the critical issues of taxes and transportation.

"I think taxes are high enough," said James Thomas, a 39-year-old accountant who cast his ballot for McDonnell at Clarendon United Methodist Church in Arlington County.

Born in Philadelphia, McDonnell grew up in Fairfax County and played football for Bishop Ireton High School before attending Notre Dame and marrying a Washington Redskins cheerleader. He pointed to his Northern Virginia childhood frequently in a disciplined effort to convince suburbanites he understood their concerns better than Deeds.

"I think McDonnell is better qualified, and he has ideas," said Debbie Zolp, 51, of Dumfries, who cast her ballot for the Republican after voting for Obama last November and Kaine four years ago. "It doesn't seem like Deeds has a plan."

McDonnell carefully avoided alienating independents or angering Democrats, taking care at nearly every appearance to praise Obama, especially for championing charter schools and promoting fatherhood.

Avoiding divisive issues

Although known for a social conservatism deeply informed by his religious faith during his 14 years as a Virginia Beach delegate, during the campaign McDonnell studiously avoided controversial such social issues as abortion, immigration and gun rights, largely neutralizing Democrats' effort to portray him as an extremist with a stealth agenda.

"He's a breed of Republican candidate I've been hoping and looking for that translates Republican values into everyday reality,'' said Michael Steele, Republican National Committee chair. "Bob talks about what people want to know."

Deeds struggled to connect with the Democratic base, at times distancing himself from Obama. Former governor L. Douglas Wilder, a fellow Democrat and the nation's first elected black governor, declined to endorse him, and prominent black businesswoman Sheila Johnson, a Democrat, supported his opponent, even making a TV ad for McDonnell.

Deeds battled McDonnell to within 360 votes in a race for attorney general in 2005.

McDonnell outspent Deeds considerably, receiving unprecedented support from outside groups -- $9 million from the Republican National Committee as well as significant direct TV buys on his behalf from the Republican Governors Association, the National Rifle Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.