Is this all, Mr. Deeds?

Explaining the strategy unveiled over the weekend by R. Creigh Deeds to his pals at The Washington Post requires desperation similar to that indicated by his tactics. Down double digits in the polls, Deeds is launching the campaign equivalent of football’s “Hail Mary,” attacking Robert F. McDonnell on the subject of abortion after both candidates had vowed to steer wide of social issues. So why now?

By rudimentary calculations, the campaign is less than half-finished, if measured by the expanse between the June primary and the November election. As this newspaper hits the streets, 83 days remain between now and Election Day. Deeds has time.

This does not mitigate the necessity of the Bath County Democrat getting busy. So far Deeds has played defense in the fashion of cowardly Lions, Detroit, that is, which is to say not very well. McDonnell challenged Deeds to 10 debates, and Deeds whimpered. McDonnell proposed a transportation plan, and Deeds punted, saying he’d wait to chat with his chums in the legislature. McDonnell so far is controlling the fight. So now Deeds swings low and from left field.

Here’s what Deeds wants Virginia to know: McDonnell has spent time in office as a delegate and as attorney general combating abortion, to which he is opposed in every case except to save the life of the mother. Deeds, who does his Democratic duty in supporting abortion in almost every case, says this is the stuff of extremism, meaning, presumably, that if voters choose McDonnell they should brace for a rush on coat hangers.

McDonnell counters that his campaign has centered on job creation and transportation and that both candidates had pledged in a debate last month to confine the discourse principally to the economy. A YouTube video circulated by the McDonnell campaign makes the point: “I will be a governor who focuses on the economy, focuses on moving Virginia forward, creating opportunity for all people,” Deeds declared. And this: “I’ve never made social policy a huge part of my campaigns or a huge focus of my agenda.” And this: “We can’t be continually dividing our citizens on social politics.”

Now something (heaven knows what) gives. Social policy, Deeds told The Washington Post on Saturday, is “an area that shows a clear distinction between us.” So “dividing our citizens on social politics” is back in play. Deeds’ logic, which takes the convoluted form that shapes his strategy, is that McDonnell is “masquerading as a centrist,” apparently a reference to the Virginia Beach Republican’s focus on the economy. Of course. If the Republican is talking about jobs, it must be diversionary, a puff of smoke to hide the real agenda, to return Virginia to the dark age.

True enough, McDonnell has been a staunch abortion opponent, backing the state ban on partial-birth abortions, parental consent and 24-hour waiting periods (all stances supported by a fair number of Democrats). Deeds favors parental notification, but otherwise has clung to leftist lines on the subject.

For our part, we side with McDonnell’s opposition to abortion. His view is firm and consistent. Calls for moderation on abortion show the discomfort that many people on the left sense about the procedure. If it is not the taking of human life, as pro-lifers claim, then why moderate? Who cares about its being rare – the mantra of Clinton – if it’s not life that’s snuffed out but only a goo of cells? On the other hand, if it is indeed life, then the only consistent and ethically acceptable position is the one McDonnell holds.

These questions won’t be resolved in Virginia’s gubernatorial campaign, as both Deeds and McDonnell well know. Abortion is modern America’s great dilemma. Deeds’ attempt to use this as a lever to hoist himself into a campaign in which he is yet to participate significantly evinces a craven political cynicism that we had not foreseen in him.

This leads us to wonder whether Deeds is capable of what would have been a superior strategy, to counter McDonnell’s transportation and jobs plans with better alternatives. Deeds is clutching and grabbing as he sinks. This will not win him the position he seeks.