On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Creigh Deeds adviser Mo Elleithee said this weekend’s Washington Post endorsement likely was not enough on its own to turn things around for Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee.
“It’s certainly helpful,” Eleithee told TPMDC. “But look, I don’t think there’s going to be a single defining moment or a ‘game changer,’ which is a phrase people have been throwing around.”
Eleithee said the endorsement, which was largely seen as the single moment that changed Deeds fortunes in the primary last June, was “just a piece” of Deeds’ turnaround strategy this time.
“Everyday, we’ve got to win the battle between now and Election Day,” he said.
Earlier on the call, Deeds manager Joe Abbey elaborated on another “piece” of the strategy under questioning from NPR’s Mara Liasson. She asked how Deeds planned to reactivate the hundreds of thousands of new Democratic voters in Virginia who voted for the first time last year for President Obama. Abbey said those voters are the key to what polls show would be a come-from-behind victory for Deeds.
“They’re not what you’d call regular voters,” he said. “But that’s the key to this election — Can we get them out and can we get the motivated to vote on Tuesday, November 3?”
Abbey said the Deeds campaign has “a superior ground presence” and a “wealth of experience” with Democratic activists in the state that leads him to believe the answer to that question is yes.
“I feel very, very good about getting them out on Election Day,” he said.
