Nice little interview with the head of the Republican Governors Association over at Fivethirtyeight.com - especially considering the fact that these kind of partisan organizations are going to be bigtime players in the fall campaign.
The interview covers a wide range of topics but it's the Virginia race for governor that we're keeping an eye on and so is Nick Ayers. Here are his thoughts on the race in Virginia and the matchup between Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds.
Make sure you read them closely because you're going to get a flavor of the tone and tenor of how conservatives will take on Deeds in the fall. Here's the Virginia snippet.
538: Turning to Virginia, a state often cited as turning away from Republicans, the Democrats are trying to win the governors race for a third time in a row. How would you rate Bob McDonnell's candidacy thus far, and what will it take for him to prevent Craigh Deeds and the Democrats from posting a third consecutive win?
Ayers: This race is a rematch of the 2005 Attorney General’s race which McDonnell won by 323 votes so it’s no surprise that it’s been a tight race since the Democratic primary. The Democrats have already spent over $3 million trying to tear down McDonnell’s favorability rating and it’s been largely ineffective because of the quality campaign that McDonnell has run. As Virginia voters learn more about the two candidates, I think more and more will break towards McDonnell. McDonnell is fighting to keep Virginia’s right to work laws and keep Virginia business friendly. Creigh Deeds is a tax-and-spender who stands with Big Labor.
538: On a related note, were you surprised that Deeds won Virginia's Democratic primary over two candidates with bigger names and deeper pockets?
Ayers: Terry McAuliffe unquestionably hurt Brian Moran, who never seemed to put together a plan for how he could win. In regards to McAuliffe, while campaign money may be the mother’s milk of politics, it still can’t make an ugly baby pretty. The more voters saw of McAuliffe the less they liked him. That said, Deeds ran a great campaign.
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