Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Deeds picks off political scab: abortion rights
The candidate for governor took aim at his challenger's legislative record on the issue.
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RICHMOND -- Democrat Creigh Deeds opened up a new line of attack in the Virginia governor's race Monday, criticizing Republican Bob McDonnell's long-standing opposition to abortion rights while campaigning in Northern Virginia.
McDonnell, the former attorney general, spent his day stumping in Henry County and Southside Virginia to promote his plan for reviving the economies of rural and distressed areas.
Both candidates have said that the economy and jobs are top issues in this election.
But Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, took aim at McDonnell's record on abortion in the first of a series of rallies with female supporters.
The Democrat accused McDonnell of being too focused on the issue during a 14-year career in the General Assembly, a period in which McDonnell helped lead efforts to require parental consent for minors seeking abortions, ban a late-term procedure often called "partial-birth" abortion and require a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion.
"I believe it is up to a woman, her family, her doctor and her spiritual adviser to make this decision," Deeds said. "My opponent believes government should make this decision."
Deeds' attack marks a shift from the approach Democrats have taken in recent statewide elections.
Beginning with Mark Warner's 2001 gubernatorial campaign, Democrats generally have avoided debates over hot-button social issues. In their first debate last month, Deeds and McDonnell generally agreed that social issues would not be major factors in the campaign, though Deeds did criticize his rival's record on abortion rights.
Republicans view Deeds' attack as an effort to galvanize a segment of the Democratic electorate that has not warmed up to his candidacy. McDonnell's campaign also noted that many of the abortion measures supported by McDonnell passed with broad legislative support.
"The differences between the two candidates on the issue of abortion are well known, and now the sharp differences between the two candidates on their top priorities are also," McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said.
"While Creigh holds rallies on abortion, Bob is in Martinsville and Southside visiting with workers and small-business owners and unveiling innovative policies to create good paying jobs and turn our economy around," Martin said.
Deeds, who spent last week campaigning in rural areas, said he is focused on the economy and jobs. But he argued that McDonnell devoted more attention to divisive social issues than he did to economic concerns during his years in the House of Delegates.
McDonnell was talking jobs Monday, promoting his plans to lift rural economies at stops in Ridgeway and Southside Virginia. He has pledged to appoint a deputy Cabinet secretary to focus on rural economic development, award tax credits for meeting certain job creation targets and double spending for the Governor's Opportunity Fund, an incentive account used to close deals with business prospects.
He also said Monday that he would create a state contracting program to steer more government procurement to "historically under-utilized business zones" in rural and urban areas.
McDonnell said his administration would be "fully committed to the creation and sustainability of good jobs in rural Virginia."
Democrats argue that McDonnell's legislative record tells a different story.
House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, said McDonnell voted for budget amendments that either cut funding or reduced proposed increases to the Governor's Opportunity Fund.
He also noted that McDonnell voted in 2000 against his bill to provide health insurance and supplemental unemployment benefits for jobless people in high-unemployment areas, including 3,000 workers displaced by the closing of Tultex Corp.'s plant in Martinsville.
