Redeye

Robert F. McDonnell knows the advantage he holds in the gubernatorial polls but will allow himself to feel none of its comforts, not even in the always red Shenandoah Valley. “I’d rather be up than behind, but I’m looking at the poll on Nov. 3,” the Virginia Beach Republican said during a day riding in his campaign RV through the Valley.

During the trip through Shenandoah, Rockingham and Augusta counties, the former attorney general talked agriculture policy with farmers, fielded questions from a television interviewer and two print journalists and exhorted James Madison University students to vote for him in November.

So strategized is McDonnell about economic development that he promises to offer whatever incentives necessary to get industry to locate in Virginia.

He also thinks doubling the Governor’s Opportunity Fund from $20 million to $40 million can help with recruitment.

That’s a point McDonnell’s opponent, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, seizes and attacks.

Deeds was responsible for writing the Governor’s Opportunity Fund into the Virginia Code, and McDonnell voted as a delegate to slash the fund when Mark Warner was governor, Deeds spokesman Jared Leopold said.

“I’m glad Bob has come around on it now. The fund is an important one and Creigh Deeds was a leader in it,’’ Leopold said.

But McDonnell contends his economic plans are far broader.

He wants to consider opening a trade office in countries such as China and India to better market Virginia products.

“We are missing some opportunities in global markets,’’ he said.

And the fight to attract jobs is keen.

McDonnell said the competition for Virginia is coming not only from North Carolina and Tennessee, but the Pacific Rim countries as well.

“More people are doing things to compete with us. South Saigon has an enterprise zone,’’ he said.

During a meeting with farmers at Augusta County supervisor and dairy farmer Gerald Garber’s spread, McDonnell donned cowboy boots and a baseball hat, and rattled off statistics on agriculture’s impact on the Virginia economy.

McDonnell has the endorsement of the Virginia AgPAC of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, and Garber anticipates that a large percentage of farmers will vote in November.

McDonnell’s desire to keep the regulatory burden low scores him points with farmers.

He also told farmers gathered at Garber’s place that he wants the secretary of agriculture to seek new markets for Virginia farm products.

“We need to be more aggressive. Virginia has an avenue to the world with the port of Hampton Roads,’’ he said.

While Deeds has invoked the social issue of abortion in the campaign, McDonnell says “economic issues are first and foremost.’’

“I said I would make this a positive campaign,’’ said McDonnell, who will stick to his plans for creating jobs, improving the economy, transportation and controlling government spending.

In contrast to Deeds’ depiction of him as a social conservative, McDonnell contended he is a true conservative who believes in limited government and private sector solutions for problems.

McDonnell added that he knows conservatives alone won’t get him to the governor’s mansion.

“There are about 30 percent independents and they will vote the issues and the person. I’ve got the best ideas,’’ he said.

He has touted a specific plan for funding transportation, and knows the plan will require tweaking if it is approved.

At the end of a long day and after several days on the road that took him to coal country in Southwest Virginia, McDonnell visited students at JMU, where one of his daughters is a student.

A group of about 50 students gathered at the school dining hall to talk to the candidate.

The McDonnell campaign will aggressively work Virginia’s four-year college and community college campuses this fall.

Tailgate parties on football Saturdays, registration drives, and thousands of bumper stickers already distributed touting “Wahoos for McDonnell’’ and “Dukes for McDonnell’’ are all part of the strategy to fire up young people about the McDonnell campaign.

McDonnell’s daughter Cailin is leading the college outreach program.

McDonnell said he knows the Obama campaign succeeded in turning out a legion of young voters last November. He hopes to duplicate some of that success in Virginia this fall.

“I need to give them a reason to turn out,’’ he said.

The Deeds campaign has organizers on all Virginia major campuses and a point person working on organizing college students, said Leopold.

James Madison University political scientist Bob Roberts said it is one thing to organize, it is another to get people to vote.

Roberts said McDonnell lacks motivation now to get college students to vote.

But that motivation could be only days away when Gov. Timothy Kaine announces the impact on higher education of Virginia’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall.

Roberts said if colleges and universities are hit with a 15 percent cut, that could mean fewer classes.

Such a scenario could provide an opening for McDonnell with college students.

“What will he say and how will he restore funding?” Roberts said.

The day ended with a rousing reception for McDonnell at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Republican headquarters.

The candidate returned home to Richmond buoyed by endorsements and a poll lead but fully aware that the campaign does not officially start until Labor Day, nearly two weeks away.