In Richmond stops, Deeds, McDonnell trade gibes

Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds came to Richmond yesterday to talk about college education — and couldn’t resist the chance to grade Republican nominee Bob McDonnell’s controversial thesis.

Meanwhile across town, McDonnell, with the help of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, tried to tie Deeds to Democratic distress on national issues like health-care reform, union card-check legislation and federal cap and-trade energy bills.

Deeds, meeting over pizza with about 60 students at Virginia Union University, proposed that high school students who maintain B averages could earn scholarships for up to half off their college tuition in return for a two-year commitment to public service.

Qualifying jobs would include working as police officers, teachers, firefighters or nurses.

“That’s a win-win for everybody,“ said Deeds, who proposes paying for the $40 million program, in part, through the sale of surplus state property.

The Democrat also took questions on the 1989 graduate-school thesis McDonnell wrote at Regent University.

In it, McDonnell said working women were a threat to families and worried that government policy is weighted to gays, unmarried couples and “fornicators.“

Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, suggested that McDonnell can’t distance himself from what he wrote as a 34-year-old student seeking degrees in law and public policy.

He described the dissertation as “well-thought out, well-reasoned, passionate . . . the product of a mature adult.“ Deeds added, “It’s not some childish remark.“

Last night the Deeds camp also took to the airwaves in the Richmond-to-Hampton Roads corridor, rolling out a television commercial pegged to McDonnell’s thesis.

McDonnell, a former state attorney general, has disavowed elements of the thesis, including his criticism of working women.

At the Richmond Marriott, McDonnell and Pawlenty, a potential GOP presidential hopeful in 2012, emerged from a private fundraising luncheon for McDonnell to meet with reporters.

Pawlenty, vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said McDonnell has “the ideas, the vision, the energy and the passion for serving this state and leading it forward.“

Said McDonnell: “Job creation is the top issue in this campaign.“ He touted his endorsement by the National Federation of Independent Business and Deeds’ ties to organized labor.

The Republican said Deeds’ pursuit of the thesis reflects a Democratic campaign that is in trouble and behind in the polls.

“His campaign is based on former presidents, former governors and now decades-old term papers,“ McDonnell said.

“If I was 7, 10, 12 points down in the polls, and had no transportation plan and no comprehensive energy plan, maybe I’d adopt that as my platform, too.“

Deeds has sought to link the thesis to McDonnell’s record as a delegate from Virginia Beach, noting McDonnell’s focus on abortion restrictions, and opposition to gay rights and pay equity for women.

The Democrat got a boost yesterday from one of his opponents in the June Democratic primary, former Del. Brian J. Moran of Alexandria.

While worries over the economy and health care are still foremost with Virginians, the McDonnell thesis, Moran said, should be a wake-up call for moderate swing voters.

“Bob’s ideological agenda represents a minority view of how government should operate,“ Moran said in a phone interview.

After the news conference, Pawlenty gently deflected queries that the McDonnell fundraising visit to Virginia was advance work for a presidential run.

He also tried to stay clear of McDonnell’s thesis.

“I haven’t read the thesis but all I can say is my view of these issues, I fully support women making whatever career choices they like in whatever setting they would like,“ said Pawlenty, whose wife is a lawyer and former judge.

“Beyond that I haven’t read the thesis and the other details in there, but Bob has said that was 20 years ago, his thinking has evolved on those issues and he has disclaimed some or all of the comments.“

Pawlenty said that he did not have to write a thesis as an undergraduate.

“Thank goodness,“ he quipped.

Jim Nolan and Jeff E. Schapiro are staff writers at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.