2009 Campaign For Governor
McDonnell announced his candidacy for the 2009 Virginia Gubernatorial election at American Legion's Boy's State of Virginia 2007, making him the seventh consecutive elected Attorney General to run. The statewide candidates, including McDonnell as Governor, were selected at a Republican State convention rather than a primary. Fewer than two weeks later, State Senator R. Creigh Deeds won his party’s nomination in a primary, setting up a "rematch" from the state attorney general's race four years earlier.
In early June, Creigh Deeds possessed a slight edge with a 47%-41% advantage in the early polls. As the campaign continued to progress, the polls shifted toward McDonnell's favor, with several giving him a commanding lead. When the Washington Post released McDonnell's thesis from Regent University, McDonnell's lead dwindled to only two percentage points per Rasmussen polling. As the election proceeded, McDonnell's campaign regained steam. McDonnell defeated opponent Creigh Deeds in the general election by a vote of 59%-41%, receiving the highest percentage of the vote for any candidate for governor since 1961. At the same time, the other two statewide offices on the ballot were also won by Republicans.
Read more about this topic: Bob Mc Donnell
Famous quotes containing the words campaign and/or governor:
“The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think. You may preach to a congregation by the year and not affect its thought because it is not called upon for definite action. But throw your subject into a campaign and it becomes a challenge.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)
“President Lowell of Harvard appealed to students ‘to prepare themselves for such services as the Governor may call upon them to render.’ Dean Greenough organized an ‘emergency committee,’ and Coach Fisher was reported by the press as having declared, ‘To hell with football if men are needed.’”
—For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)