Obama plugs Deeds at campaign rally

About 1,800 people gave Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds a warm welcome at a campaign rally Aug. 6, but the real star of the evening was President Obama, who was greeted with cheers and shouts of “yes, we can,” reminiscent of his high-energy presidential campaign.

With Deeds slightly behind his Republican challenger, former state attorney general Bob McDonnell, in the latest polls, Democrats hope to energize Obama supporters to campaign and vote for Deeds.

Obama told the crowd at the McLean Hilton that it was through the leadership of Gov. Tim Kaine, who also spoke at the rally, and former Gov. Mark Warner that led to Virginia being named the “best managed state in the country.” The President said Deeds will continue in that same vein of “stability, practicality, and hard work” that has helped the commonwealth weather tough economic times.

“Virginia has a history of prudent fiscal policy,” Obama said. “That is what Creigh Deeds is all about.”

Obama defended his economic policies, accusing his critics of having a “selective memory.” Reminding the audience that when he took office just seven months ago, “we faced the worst recession since the Great Depression,” he said bold action was necessary to avert financial collapse. Although people are still losing their jobs and homes, he said, his recovery plan is working. With the stock market on the rise and home sales starting to edge up, “we are at the very beginning of the end of the economic downturn.”

Much of the rhetoric of the evening focused on education—a less controversial topic than health care reform, which was given short shrift at the rally. Obama said Deeds believes “education is the single best investment we can make in our future.”

Deeds told the crowd that Virginians “deserve a governor who has a detailed vision for maintaining our great public schools and our world-class colleges so we can better prepare our children for the jobs and opportunities of the future.”

He called for investing in prekindergarten for every child, increasing teacher pay “to at least the national average,” and forgiving student loans for teachers who “agree to serve in the toughest schools in our most challenging school districts.”

“I strongly support the President’s initiatives to expand charter schools,” Deeds said, along with greater accountability to ensure “our education dollars are being spent wisely and where most needed–in the classroom.”

Deeds blasted McDonnell’s “long record of opposing funding for public education, school construction, and pre-K, noting, “Just a few weeks ago, my opponent put forward a transportation plan funded by taking at least $5.4 billion dollars away from public education over the next 10 years, by his own estimates.”

“In a Deeds Administration, short-changing education is not an option,” Deeds said. “I will oppose any effort to cut education and will support innovative and creative improvements to our schools.”

While calling McDonnell “a decent man,” Deeds said, “at every significant moment, when there was a serious choice to be made, when there was an opportunity for him to be about moving Virginia forward–my opponent chose the ideological approach instead of working together.”

“We can’t afford that,” Deeds said. “We have come too far, we have accomplished too much together, to turn backwards to the failed vision and the misplaced priorities of the past.”