The Final Countdown
The latest polls and fundraising reports point to a Republican sweep for the 2009 elections. With Election Day less than one week away, the Republican candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General all hold sizable leads over their Democratic opponents.
Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell will enter the countdown to Election Day comfortably ahead of opponent Creigh Deeds. McDonnell’s lead has grown by 12 points over the past week, according to Public Policy Polling (“PPP,”) putting McDonnell ahead of Deeds 55 percent to 40 percent. SurveyUSA found McDonnell leading Deeds 58 to 41 percent. By either poll, this is the largest edge for McDonnell in months and is well outside the polls’ margin of error.
In addition to staying ahead in the polls, McDonnell also has nearly twice the cash to spend in the closing days of the campaign as his Democratic rival. The latest fundraising reports by the Virginia Public Access Project show McDonnell with $1.832 million on hand, compared with Deeds’ $937,772.
Incumbent Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, a Republican, leads his Democratic opponent 50 to 38 percent, according to PPP, and 56 to 42 percent according to SurveyUSA. Bolling also holds the funding advantage in his race with $524,445 cash on hand while Wagner reported having $237,365.
In the contest for Attorney General, PPP found Republican Ken Cuccinelli with a 52 to 36 percent advantage over Democrat Steve Shannon. With a similar margin, SurveyUSA found Cuccinelli ahead of Shannon 57 to 41 percent. The candidates reported nearly identical fundraising totals in the last period, but Shannon has over 6 times the cash on hand as Cuccinelli; Cuccinelli reported $153,863 and Shannon reported $955,436. Although Shannon is behind in the polls, his large financial safety net may prove invaluable in the next few days.
McDonnell is on track to race into this final week with enough cash and momentum to help Republicans sweep in the statewide races and possibly increase their 5-seat majority in the House of Delegates. In a final attempt to ignite enthusiasm among Democrats and Independents, President Obama made one last in-person campaign visit on Tuesday and encouraged the city of Norfolk to vote for Deeds. The coming days will uncover whether the President’s words hold the power that they did just one year ago – power enough to bulldoze a 30-year trend of Virginia electing a Governor in the opposite party of the most recently elected president. If the trend holds true, and all indications are that it will, on election night Republicans could find themselves in control of all three statewide offices for the first time in over a decade.