Barbour joins McDonnell on campaign trail

Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell is grateful to have a guest joining him on the campaign today.

McDonnell tweeted:

Proud to be on the trail today with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

McDonnell, who formerly served as Virginia’s Attorney General and in the House of Delegates, will face State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) in the general election this fall. McDonnell is trying to take back the State House for the GOP, which has not held the governorship since 2001. But a Rasmussen poll released in mid-June showed Deeds leading McDonnell by a six point margin.

Deeds is running on the mantle of the two previous Democratic governors, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. Both men were well-liked by the Virginia electorate, which has been trending leftward in recent years after being a GOP stronghold for nearly four decades. President Barack Obama’s victory in Virginia during the 2008 election was the first time the state voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

UPDATED [2:45pm]: Deed’s campaign has released a statement on McDonnell’s decision to include Barbour on the campaign:

For a candidate running to be a moderate, Bob McDonnell doesn’t seem
to have any problem praising the cheerleaders for the old-style
Republican policies of the likes of George Bush and Jim Gilmore.
McDonnell calls Haley Barbour a model governor, but Barbour is
proposing tax increases for Mississippians while rejecting federal
money to fund benefits for unemployed workers…