Labor Day Kicks Off the Beginning of the Fall Campaign Season

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Updated: 11:52 PM Sep 7, 2009 Labor Day Kicks Off the Beginning of the Fall Campaign Season While many folks spend their Labor Day at the beach or at a barbeque, politicians gathered in Buena Vista, VA to campaign. Posted: 7:19 PM Sep 7, 2009 Reporter: Jessica Jaglois Email Address: Jessica.Jaglois@newsplex.com

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Monday September 7, 2009

Labor Day signifys the beginning of the end for the Gubernatorial race. For Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds, this time is crucial. Especially since the resurfacing of McDonnell's graduate school thesis made waves last week.

UVa's Center for Politics' Larry Sabato weighed in on this saying, "the campaign has changed. The dynamic now is that Deeds is on the offensive and McDonnell is on the defensive. In politics, you never want to be on the defensive, you always want to be on the offensive."

Which could ultimately be to his undoing. Even if McDonnell wins and is elected.

"Because of this controversy, his hands are shackled. He will not be able to pursue social issues, even if he wanted to. So it's interesting that a campaign controversy can limit what you can do in office, and that's exactly what's happened here," Sabato says.

While McDonnell tries to backpedal, Deeds needs to catch up since recent polls show he's in the lead.

But Democratic Committee Chairman Fred Hudson warsn voters to go beyond the issue at hand.

"There is no benefit to believing that [the thesis] was the information of a young man in school. He was thirty-five when he wrote that thesis. He was quite mature enough to believe what he was saying," says Hudson.

The last 60 days will be the final crunch time for these two men.

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