Tuesday will mark the end of the Virginia Governor’s race and one would hope an end to statewide mudslinging. But if this rather dirty election campaign has taught us anything, it is that the type of mud that gets thrown around matters.

Republican Bob McDonnell’s mud has been substantive. He has labeled his Democratic adversary, Creigh Deeds, a “tax and spend liberal” because Deeds – get this – has actually proposed to raise taxes during an economic meltdown. Deeds’ would argue McDonnell is obsessed with this fact, but at least McDonnell is arguing about something in the his opponent’s platform. Besides that, the McDonnell campaign has been primarily about Bob McDonnell and what he wants to do for Virginia.

Deeds’ mud has been significantly less substantive and significantly messier. He has tried to cast McDonnell as some sort of arch-conservative sexist, basing most of his claims – and practically his entire campaign – on a graduate thesis McDonnell wrote twenty years ago. Can you imagine being judged in 2029 for a paper you are working on now? I make arguments in papers I do not personally agree with all the time.

This is not to say there are worrisome aspects of that thesis that McDonnell might have agreed with at one time, but if the best argument you can come up for as to why you should be elected is something your opponent wrote twenty years ago, then you have a problem.

The Deeds Campaign has been based on McDonnell’s graduate thesis to everyone’s detriment. This is not just the sentiment of party-line Republicans. Prominent Democrats have begged Deeds to portray a more positive message for over a month.

The election campaign can be summed up in three stages. First, the candidates debated on the issues and Deeds trailed in the polls badly. Next, Deeds refocused his campaign to be an onslaught of personal attacks on McDonnell’s views and he closed the gap significantly but still did not manage to out-poll McDonnell. Finally, the public has wizened up to the Deeds strategy and McDonnell has regained a comfortable lead. The lead is so comfortable in fact, that Republicans our hoping Deeds brings down the rest of the Virginian Democratic ticket.

This wasn’t supposed to be that way. Virginia was supposed to have turned blue the past few elections cycles. McDonnell is the old-school conservative type that is supposed to be a fossil in the Obama Era, not a front-runner. Deeds, the more moderate and less tarnished candidate of the Democratic Primary, was supposed to run a unifying campaign. Negativity threw unity out the window, however.

The Deeds message hasn’t just been negative, it’s been a farce. McDonnell’s oldest daughter served as an Army officer and his other daughters earned master’s degrees. Does this sound like someone who wants to keep women as homemakers?

The Deeds Campaign had the audacity to run an ad claiming McDonnell was against funding for mammograms. This rightfully infuriated cancer survivors who support McDonnell. As Stephanie Hamlett said, “It offends me as a woman, it offends me as a breast cancer survivor, and it offends me as a Virginian. I know Creigh badly wants to be governor, but does he really want to try to win like this?”

All signs point to Deeds losing, however. Hopefully, this will serve as a warning to politicians that if you try to win at any cost, you are still just as likely to lose.

Last 5 posts by Abel S. Delgado

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