VA Gov. Race...

[R13]

Your opinion. I'm pretty thankful to have someone in Congress like Boucher who gets money for this area.

[TheBeast]

The opinion of someone watching him do it for 20 years.

[R13]

WASHINGTON (CNN) ? Eager to draw attention Bob McDonnell's conservative roots, campaign advisers to Democrat Creigh Deeds on Monday called McDonnell's newly-discovered 1989 graduate thesis a "devastating" revelation that threatens to sink the Republican's campaign for the Virginia governor's mansion.

The 93-page research paper ? first revealed in Sunday's Washington Post ? articulated a Christian conservative worldview that criticized "cohabitators, homosexuals and fornicators" and described working women and feminists "detrimental" to the family.

On a conference call with reporters, Deeds adviser Mo Elleithee called the thesis McDonnell's "road map" for conservative governance. The Deeds camp argued that McDonnell immediately sought to put his theories to work in state government when he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates three years after writing the paper, which McDonnell wrote as master's student at Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Regent was founded by Pat Robertson and was initially named "CBN University" after Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. McDonnell wrote the paper when he was 34, twenty years before entering the Virginia governor's race.

"This paper laid out very explicity his vision for the role of government, his vision for the for a social agenda that should dominate governace, and it even went beyond just a personal political philosophy," Elleithee said. "It had a 15-point action plan for how to implement that philosophy."

The thesis was called "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade." In it, McDonnell wrote that working women are "detrimental" the the family; that feminism is among "the real enemies of the traditional family"; and that the "purging" of religious influence in public schools is damaging to healthy families.

McDonnell's campaign said his views have changed over time and that Deeds is "seeking to make an issue of a decades-old academic paper." McDonnell's team noted that he once pushed to include child day care in a welfare bill so that women could have greater freedom to work, and that he is a husband and father of "strong working women."

The Deeds campaign, lagging the polls, is eager to highlight McDonnell's conservative pedigree, a background the Republican nominee has downplayed on the campaign trail. Instead, McDonnell has portrayed himself as a pro-business moderate and has captured endorsements from several leading business groups in the commonwealth. Last week, for instance, his campaign launched their first TV ad of the general election, a spot that focuses on energy and green jobs.

Deeds, meanwhile, has tried to publicize McDonnell's opposition to abortion rights in hopes of swaying moderate voters away from McDonnell, particularly in more liberal northern Virginia. The discovery of research paper fits neatly into the narrative the Deeds campaign is trying to create: that McDonnell is not the candidate he says he is.

"This has the potential to really change the dynamics of the race," Elleithee said, noting that Virginia voters are only now starting to pay attention to the governor's race with just two months left until election day.

The Deeds campaign kept up their offensive throughout the day on Monday, e-mailing supporters to solicit donations and sending background material to reporters outlining McDonnell's legislative record in the House of Delegates, where he served before becoming Virginia's Attorney General in 2006.

The Democratic Party of Virginia and the Democratic National Committee also issued statements on the McDonnell thesis, with the DNC calling it "nothing short of a game changer in this election."



CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - McDonnell blasted for controversial research paper - Blogs from CNN.com

[cuuvapitt]

Sounds like some of the last posts that Deeds is grasping at straws since he is so far behind McDonnell...to criticize McDonnell on areas like being against abortion rights is really reaching--McDonnell should be commended for positions like this.

[R13]

Deeds or his campaign didn't pull this up, McDonnell mentioned in an interview or something, then some journalist looked it up...then found it, god forbid Deeds use it. Have you seen it? It's straight from 1950's....women don't need to work, gays are fornicators and has extreme abortion views. Not everyone holds those views, not even close, it's hardcore conservatism/christian views. I didn't think he was that bad, but seems like he's a Pat Buchanan and the last thing we need. He was pretty far behind Terry McAuliffe and beat him, he might still lose though. This is still a red state in a lot of areas and that's probably who will be voting, along with McDonnell having a lot of money since he ran unopposed.

[Counts]

IMHO not alot of differant than some of our current Govs past writeing...........IMHO it was tacky for the (R)s to dig that up 4 years ago and equaly as Tacky for the (D)s to pull this up this year


SO long as Deeds is a fan of Cap and Trade I will not vote for him

[R13]

Deeds didn't dig anything up, he's used it against him, but he didn't dig anything up. From what I heard, McDonnell brought up the paper on a question on Welfare or something, then the reporters wanted to see more and looked it up...now that its known what it says, Deeds has used it to further portray them as the "party of the past".

[Gotch]

Your opinion. I'm pretty thankful to have someone in Congress like Boucher who gets money for this area.

I've had dealings with Boucher, some I would call positive some I would call negative. Same as with his voting record.

Below are a few of his votes I found interesting. Some I agree with some I don't. A couple I strongly disagree with.

Voted YES on investigating Bush impeachment for lying about Iraq.
Voted YES on allowing human embryonic stem cell research.
Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother?s life.
Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research.
Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions.
Voted YES on restricting bankruptcy rules.
Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment.
Voted NO on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons.
Voted YES on making federal death penalty appeals harder.
Voted NO on subjecting federal employees to random drug tests.
Voted YES on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror.
Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy.
Voted NO on deterring foreign arms transfers to China.
Voted NO on reforming the UN by restricting US funding.
Voted NO on withdrawing from the WTO.
Voted NO on requiring photo ID for voting in federal elections.
Voted NO on restricting frivolous lawsuits.
Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers.
Voted NO on small business associations for buying health insurance.
Voted NO on banning physician-assisted suicide.
Voted NO on establishing tax-exempt Medical Savings Accounts.
Voted YES on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight.
Voted YES on permitting commercial airline pilots to carry guns.
Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border.
Voted YES on restricting employer interference in union organizing.

[Gotch]

In case anyone is interested my biggest disagreement with his voting record is on bankruptcy issues.

[R13]

Boucher help my grandmother personally with her check personally when i was younger, plus he does get a lot of money for this area.