Virginia Governor Race: Republican Robert McDonnell Steady Lead Over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds

The Virginia gubernatorial race is a key precursors to the 2010 midterm elections.

Republican Robert F. McDonnell is leading Democrat R. Creigh Deeds by a 51% to 42% margin in the race for the Virginia Governorship. What happened to those Obama coat tails? It would appear the Obama appearance at a Deed’s fundraiser had no affect.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Virginia voters finds McDonnell leading Deeds 51% to 42%. That’s little changed from a month ago when McDonnell held the advantage 49% to 41%. All of those figures include “leaners.” Leaners are those who initially indicate no preference for either of the candidates but answer a follow-up question and say they are leaning towards a particular candidate.

Even with the Washington Post pushing a college thesis story from 1989 to damage McConnell, he maintains his lead over his Democrat rival. From Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire, the result of the story has no impact in 2009.

When asked whether news about McDonnell’s thesis would impact how they voted, 49% said it wasn’t important while 36% said it could make a difference.

Leave it to the WAPO to find a 20 year old story. How come they could not do the same when it was time to vet candidate Barack Obama? From the Rasmussen Report:

The survey was conducted shortly after news stories broke about a thesis paper written by McDonnell in 1989. The thesis reflected very conservative views on the role of women in society and other topics. To this point, just 49% of Likely Voters say they’ve followed news stories on this topic even somewhat closely. Twenty-four percent (24%) say they’ve followed the stories Very Closely.