For those who have not been paying attention, Virginia has a hot Democratic governor’s primary going on at the moment where all three candidates are neck and neck in the polls.  The three contenders are Brian Moran, Creigh (pronounced Cree) Deeds, and Terry McCauliffe.  The Republican, Robert McDonnell, is running unopposed. 

Brian Moran has been praised for fighting for Virginia families in the trenches for decades.  Moran’s brother Jim has been cited as a potential liability but Brian Moran has been praised for his strong record on public safety, his 20 years in Virginia public service, his commitment to improving transportation, his solid record as a lawmaker, his advocacy of victims of domestic violence, working to raise the minimum wage, expanding healthcare for every child, and raising teacher salaries.  Moran has been endorsed by Mayors, Board Chairs, Democratic Committee leaders, the majority of the Democratic Steering Committee, Democratic leaders in Arlington, Alexandria,  Chesterfield, Fairfax, Falls Church, Richmond, etc. counties, and numerous Grassroots groups.  See the growing list of Brian Moran endorsements here and here.  

Creigh Deeds also has a record of public service but has been criticized for his far right leaning stance on gun control and for being the only Democrat who sought and received the endorsement of the NRA.  More specifically, Deeds voted against banning guns for convicted domestic abusers and other violent crime offenders.  In addition, Deed co-sponsored legislation proposing to repeal Virginia’s prohibition against concealed weapons in restaurants and bars.  In fact, Deeds voted repeatedly to allow concealed weapons in bars (four votes total) in the last two years.  There is also concern by some Democrats as to whether Deeds can beat McDonnell because he went up against the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee for attorney general four years ago and lost by 323 votes. Btw, in that attorney general race the NRA endorsed Democrat Deeds over GOP candidate McDonnell.  So Deeds is the first Virginia Democrat that the NRA has endorsed in the last twenty years.  However, Deeds has been praised for his record of green jobs promotion, land conservation, and has been endorsed by the Washington Post. 

Terry McCauliffe was chairman of the Democratic National Committee and has a fundraising ability nationally that has been touted as second to none but McCauliffe has also been criticized for boasting that he launched five businesses in Virginia none of which created any jobs in the Commonwealth.  It turns out that the Virginia businesses launched by the former DNC Chairman were investment partnerships with no employees.  McCauliffe cites a Washington Post  article as proof that as a businessman he has created thousands of jobs.  However, what McCauliffe fails to mention in his television ad is that the cited Post article in such ad goes further to explain that as the head of a Florida-based home-building company that created thousands of jobs, McCauliffe did not create any of those jobs in Virginia.  As a result, the McCauliffe ad has been criticized as being misleading.  See full article here.  One new endorsement McCauliffe will receive this weekend is from Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana and Chairman of the Democratic Governor’s Association.  Brian Moran’s campaign manager, Andrew Roos, had this to say about the Schweitzer endorsement: 

“The guy who was rumored to be running for governor of New York and wanted to be governor of Florida is having the governor of Montana tell us why he should be governor of Virginia?” Roos asked. 

We at ProgressPolitics have decided not to endorse any candidate until the after the primary.  However, we do encourage everyone to go out and vote on Tuesday.  If you don’t vote then you cannot stake a claim in how the Commonwealth is lead.  If energy efficiency is important to you, if gun control is important to you, if bringing new jobs, green or otherwise, to Virginia is important to you, if investing in education in Virginia is important to you, if reducing crime in Virginia is important to you, if keeping Virginia BLUE is important to you, then PLEASE VOTE TUESDAY!  Anyone who is registered to vote in Virginia can vote in the Virginia’s open primary on Tuesday, SO PLEASE VOTE.  Just go to your normal voting place or click here to find your polling place. Polling hours are 6am – 7pm.

Below is one of the Gubernatorial debates moderated by bloggers FireDogLake and the Collegiate Times. The debate lasts for 1 hour 49 minutes.