Deeds courts JMU voters

HARRISONBURG – Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds brought his campaign to young voters Tuesday, appealing to James Madison University’s Young Democrats to help him overcome his deficit in the polls to Republican Robert F. McDonnell.

“The issue is very simple,’’ Deeds said surrounded by about 40 JMU students at a campus student center. “Virginia is the best managed state and the best state to raise a child. Do we continue to build on the progress started by Mark Warner and Tim Kaine or do we abruptly turn in another direction. We all know what kind of shape Virginia was in when Mark Warner took over.”

Deeds, who has been criticized by McDonnell for the lack of a specific transportation plan, told the students of his plan, one he is crafting like former Gov. Gerry Baliles did in the mid 1980s. He plans to start with a bipartisan committee to draft the plan.

Deeds said he would bring “Democrats and Republicans together, business people, farmers and engineers and doctors and nurses and everybody together to create a transportation plan.”

Transportation problems are what stand between the current bad economy and a better one for Virginia, Deeds said.

Education also will get a lot of attention. Deeds told the JMU students that he plans to create 70,000 more college degrees for two- and four-year colleges over the next decade, and hopes to make college more affordable.

Deeds said he personally knows the expense of higher education, having had three of his children enrolled in Virginia colleges and universities over the past six years.

JMU Young Democrats President Lauren Gilbert said JMU students are concerned about both the cost of higher education and about getting a job when they finish.

“The are asking, ‘Where will I get a job?’ ” Gilbert said. She said she is considering graduate school.

After the speech, Deeds said Virginia’s youth vote is critical. But he said it was not realistic to think the surge of young voters will be like last November when there was a 74-percent turnout of registered voters for the presidential election.

Deeds also praised Kaine, the current governor, saying it was no accident that Virginia had continued to be named the best state for business.

“He’s done some things right,’’ said Deeds.

It was Kaine’s misfortune, Deeds said, to serve as governor during a difficult economic time.