Deeds drag for Dems

Prospects for a Republican sweep in the state’s marquee races brighten almost by the minute as Democrats struggle against drags at the top of the state and national parties. R. Creigh Deeds and President Barack Obama look like a dating service mismatch, each racing for the door as though fleeing an unwanted goodnight kiss.

Welcome again to the political void, the hue of which changes as regularly as the seasons. A year ago, Obama eased comfortably into the campaign stretch as though it were one of his tailored suits. Now his political cachet has turned threadbare and Deeds’ lost campaign nibbles at what’s left. Even at the apex of his dazzling political game, Obama might have been unable to rescue Deeds from himself. But matters are worse: The president’s coattails, like the emperor’s clothes, are gone.

So Obama shuns campaign appearances on Deeds’ behalf as though they were Acorn meetings. Neither has Deeds cozied up to Obama the way, say, the current Democratic governor, Timothy M. Kaine, once did. The latter attached like a tick to Obama, with teeth sunk firmly into the skin. Seeing one liability while missing the one in the mirror, Deeds has run a steady race away from the president, pointedly declaring at one point that he is not an Obama Democrat but “a Deeds Democrat.”

His trouble and his party’s is that no one knows what that is. Forget for the moment what composes the entirety of Deeds’ campaign strategy – railing against the social conservatism of Republican Robert F. McDonnell. What Deeds has done that is most remarkable is to inexplicably cast off the pragmatic approach that engineered Democratic gubernatorial victories for both Mark Warner and his successor, Kaine, as well as wins for Sen. Jim Webb and Warner again in last year’s run for the Senate.

All of those campaigns succeeded in no small part because they presented their candidates as able and determined to produce practical solutions to problems plaguing the state and the country. We quibble with some of the results, particularly in Kaine’s case, but not with the prudence of the selling points.

The pity for Democrats is that other candidates on the statewide ticket and in some legislative races seem to recognize this. Examples include House District 20 challenger Greg Marrow and attorney general hopeful Steve Shannon. While we dispute some of their positions, both of those candidates during endorsement interviews with The News Virginian impressed us with their attentiveness to issues that matter. Neither District 20 incumbent Del. Landes nor Republican attorney general candidate Ken Cuccinelli have been interviewed.

Democrats might have overcome Obama’s flagging popularity but Deeds’ wandering poses a greater obstacle likely to hinder the state party. Republicans’ focus on core issues has been pointed and precise. Let’s hope they’re better at remembering what brought them victory than the state’s current top Democrat has been.