Road to Richmond

WEYERS CAVE — Touting both their experience and leadership, the statewide team of the Republican Party of Virginia kicked off the 2009 election campaign Monday.

“This campaign is for you and it’s about you,” gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell told a crowd at Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport.

McDonnell promised to help small businesses, strengthen the port of Hampton Roads and make Virginia a leader in alternative energy.

He said he would develop more clean coal and drill for oil and natural gas off the Virginia coast.

And he vowed that more money would go to k-12 education for classrooms and merit pay for teachers.

“This is a ticket of big, bold ideas. It’s time for a change in Virginia,” said McDonnell, who was flanked by his running mates, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and attorney general nominee Ken Cuccinelli.

Bolling, who put aside his gubernatorial ambition to support McDonnell’s candidacy, said the GOP ticket is one committed to “reliable and workable solutions and bipartisan coalitions.”

“This is the team to lead us to a more prosperous future,” he said.

Bolling said the Republican ticket would lower the tax burden on businesses and families and invest more money to attract industry and boost the movie industry’s presence in Virginia.

He took a direct shot at the Kaine administration, saying their budget projections the past four years had been based on “overly optimistic forecasts.”

Cuccinelli, who won a first ballot nomination over John Brownlee and David Foster at the state convention over the weekend, promised a conservative agenda.

“The main problem is the economy,” he said.

Cuccinelli said the GOP ticket would allow the free market to work more effectively in reviving the economy.

Cuccinelli also promised to crack down on gangs across Virginia, saying he would “clean up and squeeze the gangs out” of the commonwealth.

Alluding to the possible presence of wealthy Terry McAuliffe as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Cuccinelli said, “We might be outspent, but we won’t be outworked.”

Most polls show McAuliffe with a strong lead over Democratic primary contenders state Sen. Creigh Deeds and Del. Brian Moran. McDonnell leads McAuliffe in statewide polls by a range of 6 to 10 percentage points.

Republicans are seeking to break a losing skid after faltering in the gubernatorial election to Democrats Mark Warner in 2001 and Kaine in 2005.

In addition to the Valley stop, the GOP ticket traveled to five other destinations including visits to Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Richmond.

The Virginia Democratic Party responded to Monday’s “Just Say Yes” tour by the state Republican ticket.

Democratic Party Communications Director Jared Leopold said, “For nearly a decade Bob McDonnell has said no to Mark Warner and Tim Kaine’s plans to move Virginia forward. McDonnell said no to preserving Virginia’s economic stability, he said no to transportation solutions and he said no to $125 million for Virginia’s unemployed.”