Decision Virginia

It is a classic line from a politician, and like clockwork, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling found the perfect opportunity to deliver it, as reports emerge that of the three statewide races in Virgina, his might be the most competitive.

During an event today in Richmond with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his Republican ticketmates, Bolling told our Tara Morgan that the only poll he is concerned about is the “final poll” that will take place on Election Day.

With more and more evidence that the chances that Creigh Deeds will pull off an amazing 11th hour comeback are unlikely, frisky Democrats are looking at their down ballot races hoping that Jody Wagner or Steve Shannon might be able to benefit from Virginia’s history of splitting tickets in statewide races.  Their hunger has left them pointing to a little read private poll from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) that shows the race for Lt. Governor between Wagner and Bolling within a couple of points of each other.

Despite that fact that virtually every public poll has shown Bolling with as close to a comfortable lead as McDonnell has at the top of the ticket, many on the left are holding on to hope that voters have not taken the time to closely look at the LG’s race and that perhaps, in an effort to balance the ticket they will choose Wagner. Democrats took heart in a recent transfer of $25,000 from the McDonnell to the Bolling campaign as evidence that Republicans were getting nervous.  (McDonnell has since transferred another $10,000 and Bolling has also received more than $130,000 from the RPV and another $54,000 from the Republican Leadership Committee) Bolling told us today that, he is working hard up until the last day, but hasn’t seen this mysterious poll and he wouldn’t put much stock in it anyway.

Here are his remarks:

As for the Democrats, Wagner stated to me emphatically last week that she is not distancing herself from the Deeds campaign, despite the fact that she reached out to a liberal blogger, looking to clarify where she stands on the public option portion of the proposed health care reform plan. (A stance that even now still seems a bit murky) She continues to be advertising heavily on television and spoke at the rally on Tuesday featuring President Obama.

They may not have the swagger or will bring the kind of crowds that the President of the United States can, but today Republican Gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell should get a pretty good injection of free media from GOP heavyweights Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.  The former Mayor of New York City and the former Governor of Massachusetts are both former and potential candidates for President and they have the potential to excite die-hard Republicans as we head down the homestretch.

It appears that in the waning days of the campaign, national Republicans are doing whatever they can to be a part of McDonnell’s success. Both Giuliani and Romney have stumped for McDonnell in the past and both have multiple events planned today. Giuliani, won’t even be with the candidate himself. McDonnell has appeared with at least 5 different prospective GOP presidential nominees over the course of the campaign. Yesterday he got another boost from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who raised $75,000 at a breakfast in Newport News. (Huckabee was in town to deliver the keynote address for a Virginia conservative political action group)

The closest Giuliani will be to Richmond is Fredericksburg, Romney will make a stop with McDonnell here in the Capital City. Their full schedules can be found after the jump.

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was in Richmond, Friday night to help kickoff the Republican Party of Virginia’s convention and raise some cash for the state organization.

Romney is widely believed to be considering a run for President in 2012 and making a trip to Virginia, a battleground state, only helps to add fuel to that speculation. Romney said that 2012, is too far down the road to begin talk about candidates for president, but did say he will be back to Virginia, to help elect Republicans at all levels, any way he can.

As someone who has already run for president, and may be considering it again, Romney has a vested interest in the Republican party improving its prospects at the ballot box. He said that current Democratic policies are not the direction that he believes most Americans want to go down. Romney pointed to the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia as opportunities for Republicans and the voting public to prove that. 

Romney is the third potential Republican candidate for president in 2012 to visit the commonwealth after Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

After the jump, I have an extended clip from Romney’s remarks including him being pressed a bit about his intentions for 2012.

**UPDATE** see the Democrat response to the Romney visit after the jump. 

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Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight expects to be a big night for Barack Obama, but John McCain is not just surrendering the day’s media coverage to the Democratic Nominee. McCain is rumored to have picked his running mate and word is that it could leak at some point tonight. (No matter what we are expected to hear first thing tomorrow in advance of a major announcement on Friday.)

The potential for McCain’s pick to come down today, sent our newsroom into a bit of a frenzy, primarily because NBC put out a warning saying that the news could come at any moment and if it did they were going to just break in to report it. This was during our 6 p-m news so we were just going to report it ourselves if it did happen. Of course the news has not come and we are still waiting. There is still that very real possibility that local Congressman Eric Cantor could be the pick, but it seems that much of the bluster from yesterday has subsided a bit and it looks like it will come down to Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty.

In other McCain news, the nominee put out an ad tonight that will air in battleground states (Virginia included) during convention coverage. The ad is certainly something different. Take a look at it here, before you see it tonight.

I’ll check back in later after Gov. Kaine’s speech.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight on 12 News at 11 we explored where Barack Obama stands on missile defense programs. There is a pretty heavily viewed YouTube clip that comes from a pre-produced video statement the senator delivered to a group called Caucus 4 Priorities, an activist group that aims to reduce the size of the U.S. defense budget.

In his statement, Obama talks about cutting spending to what he called “unproven” missile defense systems. This has been fodder for conservative bloggers and others who are attempting to show Obama as weak when it comes to national security. I got the chance to talk to Obama about this very topic last week and tonight on “Securing America’s Future” night at the DNC, we showed you what he had to say. I also was able to talk one on one with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a McCain supporter, about how he views Obama’s stance on missile defense. The video clip of the story is below. You can see the entire interview uncut in the video player on the main page.