Creigh Deeds attorney general campaign, 2005

Creigh Deeds for Attorney General
Campaign	Virginia Attorney General election, 2005
Candidate	Robert Creigh Deeds State Senator 2001-Present General Assemblymen 1992-2001
Affiliation	Democratic Party
Status	June 14, 2005 - Won Primary December 21, 2005 - Loses Recount and Concedes [1]
Headquarters	Charlottesville, Virginia

Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds was a candidate for Attorney General of Virginia in 2005.^[2] Deeds ultimately lost the race, which was so close it required a recount, by 360 votes ^[3] Deeds' opponent, Bob McDonnell, was sworn in as Attorney General alongside Governor Tim Kaine and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling on January 14, 2006.

Primary

Roanoke State Senator John Edwards was to challenge Deeds in a primary fight for the Attorney General Nomination for the Democratic Party of Virginia. Edwards, who had won 30% of the vote in the primary in 2001, was considered a viable candidate, but inevitably dropped out due to his tough liberal stances on Gay Rights ^[4] After Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds was the only candidate left in the Democratic primary. Running unopposed, Deeds won 100% of the primary vote on June 14, 2005 ^[5]

General election

Campaign

Deeds at a rally in Charlottesville

After securing the nomination due to Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds began positioning himself as a centrist Democrat such as Mark Warner. On June 14, Deeds found out his opponent in the general election would be Bob McDonnell after McDonnell had won the Republican primary ^[6]. McDonnell, who also positioned himself as a Moderate campaigned against Deeds. Throughout early polling, Deeds and McDonnell started the race off tied.

The First poll of the race, conducted by Mason-Dixon showed Deeds at 34% and McDonnell barely ahead with 35% which was inside the margin of error. By the second poll which was also conducted by Mason Dixon, Deeds was behind 33%-36%. Deeds continued to campaign and was endorsed by NARAL in August 2005.^[7].

Deeds based his campaign headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was in his native Senate district. Deeds continued to lag McDonnell in the polls until the endorsement of the NRA. In late September 2005, the NRA unexpectedly endorsed Deeds, the Democrat, over McDonnell.^[8] With the new ability to claim himself as a "centrist" Democrat, Deeds had gained much needed campaign momentum.

By late October, Deeds was only 4%-5% behind McDonnell. Heading into early November Deeds was inside the margin of error with McDonnell, behind 40%-43%. On Election day, it appeared obvious that the race was heading into a recount. Deeds trailed McDonnell by approximately 320 votes.

Polling

Source [2]	Date	Deeds (D)	McDonnell (R)
Mason Dixon	November 1–2, 2005	40%	43%
Roanoke College	October 23–30, 2005	34%	39%
Rasmussen Reports	October 26, 2005	39%	43%
Mason Dixon	October 18–20, 2005	34%	42%
Mason Dixon	September 13–15, 2005	33%	36%
Mason Dixon	July 19–21, 2005	34%	35%

For the majority of the campaign, Deeds lagged McDonnell from anywhere between 3%-8%. However, in the final weeks of the campaign, Deeds picked up support due in part because of the NRA's endorsement of him. In the final poll taken by Mason Dixon and released on November 3, Deeds was only 3% behind McDonnell.

Fundraising

Deeds lagged considerably in the fundraising race. On Election Day, according to Our Campaigns, the candidates had the following amount of Cash on hand:^[2]

• McDonnell - $3,500,000
• Deeds - $1,700,000

Results

Virginia Attorney General Election, 2005 [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Creigh Deeds	970,563	49.95%
	Republican	Bob McDonnell	970,886	49.96%

Recount

In late November, the Board of Elections certified Bob McDonnell as the winner by 323 votes. However, Deeds announced he would petition the courts for a recount on November 29.^[10] The recount was set to last until mid-December.

The recount started later than expected on December 20, 2005 when both campaigns were allowed to comb through ballots to make any challenges ^[11] Despite the fact that it was a recount, very few ballots were actually recounted as opposed to both campaigns making challenges to hand-fulls of ballot instead.

On December 22, 2005 however, the Board of Elections confirmed Bob McDonnell the winner of the recount by a 360 vote margin.^[12] Despite the fact that the race was one of the closest in history, the recount had actually gained McDonnell exactly 37 votes boosting his margin from 323 votes to exactly a 360 vote lead over Deeds. Deeds called McDonnell at 7:15 that night to congratulate him on the victory ^[1].

After the recount, the final certified tally was as follows:^[12]

Virginia Attorney General Election, 2005 (After Recount) [9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Deeds	970,621	49.95%	+ 58 Votes
	Republican	Bob McDonnell	970,981	49.96%	+ 95 votes

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Washington Post (December 22, 2005). "McDonnell Clinches Attorney General Race". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122101889.html. Retrieved April 5, 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General". http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=78003. Retrieved April 5, 2009. 
3. ^ The Virginia News Letter (February, 2006). "Election Recounts in Virginia". http://www.coopercenter.org/publications/sitefiles/vanl/vanl0206.pdf. Retrieved April 5, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ The Roanoke Times (March 4, 2005). "Roanoke senator drops statewide nomination". http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/xp-19578. Retrieved April 5, 2009. 
5. ^ Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General - D Primary". http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=78002. Retrieved April 5, 2009. 
6. ^ Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General Race - R Primary". http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=77996. Retrieved April 5, 2009. 
7. ^ NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia (August 18, 2005). "NARAL PRO-CHOICE VIRGINA (sic) ANNOUNCES CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS FOR 2005". http://www.naralva.org/news/press/200508171.shtml. Retrieved April 5, 2009. 
8. ^ Washington Post (September 30, 2009). "NRA Backs Dem for Va. Attorney General Race". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/29/AR2005092902186_pf.html. Retrieved April 8, 2009. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Virginia Board of Elections. "General Election - November 8, 2005". http://www2.sbe.virginia.gov/web_docs/Election/results/2005/nov2005/html/. Retrieved April 8, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ The New York Times (November 29, 2005). "Recount Likely in Attorney General Race". http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E7D81431F93AA15752C1A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=. Retrieved April 8, 2009. 
11. ^ Morello, Carol (December 21, 2005). "Recount Starts, but Without Va. Ballots". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001409.html. Retrieved April 8, 2009. 
12. ^ ^{a b} The Los Angeles Times (December 22, 2005). "Virginia Recount Verifies Win". http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/22/nation/na-recount22. Retrieved April 8, 2005.