RICHMOND | Three Virginia Democrats battling for their party’s nomination for governor have agreed to five debates and three joint appearances before their June primary.
The campaigns of Democrats R. Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran announced the agreement Wednesday.
The first of the debates will take place April 19 in Williamsburg and the last is May 19 in Annandale. In between, they will face off April 23 in Hampton, April 28 in Danville and the next day at Virginia Tech. Times and format details of the debates still have to be resolved.
The joint appearances will be in Reston on April 3, in Richmond on April 21 and in Greensprings on a date not yet determined.
It’s the most ambitious itinerary of intraparty debates in decades by either party, and its announcement energizes what is already a race closely watched nationally.
It features the candidacy of Mr. McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; high expectations for current DNC Chairman Tim Kaine to ensure that a Democrat succeeds him as governor and a once-dominant Republican Party desperate to regain the governorship after two consecutive losses. And because Virginia and New Jersey are the only states to elect governors this fall, they are the first referendum on the job the Obama White House and a Democratic Congress have done.
Neither party has held a substantially contested primary for governor since the Republicans in 1989. That year, Marshall Coleman emerged from a three-candidate Republican field, then narrowly lost to Democrat L. Douglas Wilder.
The last contested Democratic primary was in 1977, when populist Henry Howell was nominated but lost the general election to Republican John Dalton.
This year’s primary saw the earliest onset of television advertising ever in Virginia in a race that became highly contentious and visible whenMr. McAuliffe entered the fray last fall.
Mr. McAuliffe, who raised tens of millions of dollars for the party and for the presidential campaigns of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, began airing television ads in the Hampton Roads markets when he officially kicked off his campaign in January, and even televised one regionally during the Super Bowl. In less than three months, his paid campaign staff has swelled to nearly 100.
The debates, however, give all three candidates significant exposure to free media coverage, potentially mitigating Mr. McAuliffe’s expected monetary advantage as the June 9 primary approaches.
Mr. Moran is a former member of the state’s House of Delegates who chaired its Democratic Caucus. A month after Mr. McAuliffe made his intent to run clear in November, Mr. Moran resigned from his House seat from Alexandria so he could raise money during the winter legislative session, something state law prohibits lawmakers from doing.
Mr. Deeds retained his state Senate seat and abstained from fundraising during the 2009 session’s 46-day January and February run.
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