This week’s opinion marketplace

Transportation funding divides hopefuls

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and Del. Ben Cline, R-Lexington, are scheduled today to attend a meeting in Lexington concerning Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s proposed closure of the Natural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center.

McDonnell lambastes Deeds at parade

Slightly built, tirelessly energetic and topped by a meticulously styled ’do that could belong only to a politician or an anchorman, Robert F. McDonnell looks more marathoner than statesman, and in that sense hopes to run again after a week of staggering. Platforms for re-launching a gubernatorial bid that once sailed, but now drifts, arise this week, first on Monday with the traditional Labor Day campaign kickoff and later in the week when Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is expected to announce $1.5 billion in budget cuts.

RICHMOND — Thanks to a college thesis his Republican foe wrote 20 years ago, Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has a chance to reset the governor’s race and drive home a defining campaign message.

Now, all he needs is the message.

RICHMOND — Thrown on the defensive over his conservative origins, Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell is disavowing views on working women, gays and divorce in a paper he wrote as a law student two decades ago at the university founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

But Democrats say the paper exposes the true ideology -— and agenda — of a candidate who, they contend, is attempting to represent himself as a centrist by emphasizing economic themes to Virginia’s recession-anxious voters.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds returned fire Friday during a series of Shenandoah Valley campaign stops, countering Republican television ads depicting him as a free spender.

On a hazy day in Vancouver, six weeks after having broken the mythic four-minute barrier in the mile, Roger Bannister clung desperately to the frantic pace set by an Australian rival.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds said Thursday that his legislative record is one of accomplishment while his Republican opponent Bob McDonnell spent his years in the legislature “on a social crusade.”

Approaching Labor Day, when the gubernatorial campaign traditionally kicks into gear, a gambit by Democrat R. Creigh Deeds is raising eyebrows but not his sagging poll numbers.

FAIRFAX — Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds sought Friday to link his campaign for governor to Virginia’s most popular politician, promising to govern in the mold of Sen. Mark Warner and seek bipartisan solutions for transportation and economic development.

Candidate’s focus is on small business in downtown visit

Deeds and McDonnell outline respective plans

HOT SPRINGS — Solving Virginia’s transportation problems drew the strongest discussion between candidates Bob McDonnell and Sen. Creigh Deeds on Saturday in the first gubernatorial debate of the 2009 campaign.