The fight for Virginia’s governorship will be the crucial battle in the 2009 election season – with Obama having won the State last November, Democrats are hoping to seal the deal in the Old Dominion by electing another Democrat. Meanwhile, the GOP is hoping to bounce back from the trouncing of 2006/08 by expelling Democrats from the Virginia governorship and giving the GOP momentum heading in to the 2010 mid terms. The money race is telling the tale of how deeply each party is getting invested in Virginia:
Virginia’s candidates for governor raised millions of dollars in the last half of 2008, according to campaign finance reports released Thursday.
State Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Republican nominee, reported raising $1.6 million between July and December. That figure includes a million dollars collected since the November election. McDonnell’s campaign manager said the GOP candidate has $2 million in the bank.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal both attended fundraisers for McDonnell during that period.
The three Democrats who want their party’s nomination also released their fundraising numbers.
State Senator Creigh Deeds, who represents a district that includes Charlottesville, collected $658,000 during the last half of the year. Deeds now has $891,000 on hand.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe raised $948,000 since he started raising money back in November. But McAuliffe has spent some of that cash, as he currently reports a bank balance of $718,000.
Brian Moran, who used to represent Alexandria in the House of Delegates, pulled in $755,000 during the last half of the year. Moran is spending more than he’s raising, however, as the Democrat reported $924,000 on hand during the summer.
I hadn’t noted that Governor Jindal had helped with Virginia GOP fundraising – and if that doesn’t signal Presidential ambitions, then nothing does. But, one election at a time. We GOPers need to dig in here and do all we can to support the GOP nominee in Virginia. While our GOPers in Virginia will have to carry the bulk of the load, we can donate our money and, if we live in surrounding States, our time. A lot of politics revolves around image – its sad, but its true…and nothing would better break the image of Democrat invincibility than to take the State Obama took just the year before.
Here is McDonnell’s website – have at it; lets whack the Democrats hard in 2009!
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