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Up until now, fraudclosure and robosigning were both merely civil offenses, and as such the banks were actively doing all they could to bury any and all pending litigation under a large settlement umbrella, wash their hands of the whole affair and move on, with nobody in danger of actually walking the plank and certainly not in danger of going to jail. That has all changed as of now, following a Nevada Grand Jury handing down criminal indictments against two title officers employed by Lender Processing Services Inc. for allegedly directing and supervising a robo-signing scheme, in which documents filed...

Mr. Natural sez...

Follow those races here. Report turnout, exit polls etc. as they happen..

http://hamptonroads.com/pilotonline

Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch brought up a claim he said "some people" have made, that President Barack Obama is waiting until after this year's gubernatorial election in New Jersey and Virginia before making a decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan. “Some people have even been, I think, hyper-critical in suggesting that he’s waiting until after the election because they have some tough governorships up for election” Hatch said In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union with John King, “I hope that’s not the case.” Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said he knows Hatch didn’t say he...

The Republican Party has no national leaders. Its stand ing with voters is at an all- time low. It battens itself on an ideological purity that turns off the center and can't appeal to an increasingly suburban and diverse electorate. If it is not fated to go the way of the Federalists or the Whigs, it is certainly a spent force. This is the rote obituary for the GOP that the left can't resist. It is all the more alluring for its elements of truth: A party that holds neither the presidency, the House nor the Senate won't be stacked...

Republican Robert F. McDonnell has now opened a 13-point lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds with less than a week to go in the race for governor of Virginia. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state - taken last night just after President Obama made a campaign appearance for Deeds in the state - shows McDonnell ahead 54% to 41%. Only four percent (4%) remain undecided. Earlier this month, McDonnell led by seven, and last month he was up by nine. [snip] Among those likely to vote, 49% approve of the way Obama has handled his job as...

Amid tumbling poll numbers and signs of major money problems, Democratic strategists have begun privately grousing that state Sen. Creigh Deeds could prove a significant drag on critical downballot races in Virginia next Tuesday. One senior Democratic strategist who has closely followed the contest in Virginia said that the "chances are somewhere between solid and definite" that Deeds declining performance would hamper the party's chances of winning LG and AG races. Of those downballot contests, the source added: "They pretty much live in the shadow of the top of the ticket."

Soon after polls closed on November 4 last year, officials announced the most momentous state result of the night. Barack Obama had become the first Democrat in 40 years to win Virginia. The race for the White House was effectively over. Next Tuesday, barring an electoral earthquake, the Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia will lose to a Republican, possibly by a double-digit margin. In the Democrats’ first big test at the polls since Mr Obama swept to power, his aides have been reduced to spreading the blame for Creigh Deeds’s presumed defeat in private briefings. Despite the bad blood,...

No sooner was the ink dry on this morning’s article, In Virginia Dems Dis Deeds As Republicans Roll, than there were two new polls confirming double-digit leads for the Republican slate. The stage has been set for a conservative landslide in the statewide races.

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - President Barack Obama is expected to draw thousands to the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk today as he continues to campaign for Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Creigh Deeds . Crews inside "The Ted" worked overnight Tuesday to change the venue from a comedy event to the stage that can handle a major political rock show. The Deeds campaign has been running ads for weeks showing the President supporting Deeds for Governor. Today he'll be doing it in person, much to the enjoyment of his youngest supporters. 9-year-old Asia Shell and her father, who both campaigned...

This is one Mr. Deeds who apparently isn't going to town. The collapse of the Democratic campaign for governor of Virginia speaks volumes about what the body politic is trying to tell Obama's Democrats. They're learning, painfully, that campaigning without George Bush is baffling, frustrating and scary. Worse, it offers a preview of what the congressional campaigning will be like next year. For weeks, The Washington Post, house organ of the national Democratic Party, pounded away at McDonnell, the Republican nominee, for having written politically incorrect term papers in graduate school, as proof that he doesn't like women very much....

With only a week to go before we vote in Virginia’s odd-year election, the outcome looks good for the Republican statewide slate. The Democrats, optimistic a month ago, have taken to blaming their candidate, Creigh Deeds, for the loss to come — although Deeds has run exactly the race the national Democrats wanted him to run, trying to use a "wedge" issue to mislead voters.

Republican Robert F. McDonnell carries a double-digit lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds into the final week of the campaign for Virginia governor, according to a new Washington Post poll.

The Democrats' decade-long push into Virginia -- a national bragging point that they were moving into the once-solid Republican South -- may be coming to an end. Polls suggest that the Republicans could win the governor's office on Nov. 3 for the first time in more than a decade. One of only two statewide races this year -- the other is the governor's race in New Jersey -- the Virginia contest is being watched as a referendum not only on the Democrats' appeal in the region, but also on the party's agenda next door in Washington. President Barack Obama will...

The hundreds of civil war gravestones in Culpeper cemetery tell of the town’s bloody history. Halfway between the opposing capitals of Richmond and Washington, it saw more battles than anywhere else in the United States. Today this town in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains is a battlefield of a different kind. In 10 days’ time Virginia, which last November voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1964, goes to the polls for a governor in the first electoral test of the Obama presidency. This contest between Bob McDonnell, a Republican, and Creigh Deeds, a...

Deeds says he was unaware of conflicts over race strategy

Ahhhhh, here's that "transparency" on display once again: A well-known Democratic strategist in Virginia is blasting the White House for placing anonymous quotes in the Washington Post in a pre-emptive effort to blame Creigh Deeds for what might be a loss in the state's upcoming gubernatorial election. David "Mudcat" Saunders, who gained political fame helping Democrat Mark Warner reach out to rural voters during Warner's successful 2001 gubernatorial bid, told CNN Friday that trying to blame Deeds is "bulls**t" when Democrats around the country are "just tired of politics." ~~~ In a story published Friday, a senior administration official told...

BOSTON – President Barack Obama lent his popularity and cash-raising abilities to embattled fellow Democrats on Friday, defending White House allies whose losses would be an embarrassment for the president. Obama began a day of politicking with a quick "official" event at Cambridge's Massachusetts Institute of Technology to challenge the nation to lead the global economy in clean energy. But even as he stood in front of the seal of the presidency, Obama didn't forget politics. He praised Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's "leadership and vision," saying he has endeavored to make his state "a clean energy leader" — remarks sure...

Here is video of Rush Limbaugh today talking about what he calls a "monumental story." Rush talks about the fact that Obama's White House is already "throwing under the bus" Democrat candidate for Virginia Governor Creigh Deeds. He is trailing by double-digits less than two weeks before the November 4 election. Limbaugh said Obama is showing his colors to Democrats, that Obama will not stand by his candidates when they are polling badly. In fact, Limbaugh called the leaks published in the Washington Post a "political assassination of a Democrat Candidate before the election." . . . (VIDEO)

Dear Obamaphile-- Having President Obama's support in my campaign for governor of Virginia is an honor. The only thing to match it is having the support of you and the movement that made President Obama's victory possible. Thanks to you, Virginia's future is stronger and its politics will never be the same. But what you did in 2008 was only the beginning, and I want to make sure that what you started never stops. We're currently facing the effects of the failed national policies of the past -- unemployment, struggling small businesses, and too many home foreclosures. We can't...

In an interview earlier this month, Creigh Deeds (D) blamed, in part, the Democrats’ national agenda as he trails Bob McDonnell (R) in Virginia’s gubernatorial race. “Frankly, a lot of what’s going on in Washington has made it very tough,” he said. But now the White House is blaming Deeds. A senior administration official tells the Washington Post that Deeds made several mistakes in his campaign. "I understood in the beginning why there was some reluctance to run all around the state with Barack Obama," the official said. "You don't do that in Virginia. But when you consider the African...

Former Virginia Sen. Brandon Bell endorsed Republican Bob McDonnell for governor Wednesday after spending most of the summer and fall in support of Democrat Creigh Deeds. Bell, a Republican, served two separate terms in the Senate but was defeated twice, first by Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, in a general election and later by Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt County, in a 2007 primary. Bell was among seven Republicans who endorsed Deeds in July. Bell said at the time that he had worked with both men but that Deeds "simply will make better decisions on key issues facing the commonwealth." In a...

Virginia Democrats are highlighting this video of GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell from a rally-the-base speech earlier today at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg. McDonnell's promise to be a champion for traditional marriage and anti-abortion stalwart comes on the morning following the final debate of the governor's race Tuesday night -- a debate where the Republican said that, if elected, his focus would be on issues such as jobs, transportation and energy. Pressed about his opposition to abortion at the debate, McDonnell was far less expansive than in front of the evangelical students at Liberty. And, it should be...

In Virginia, New High For McDonnell, Comfortable Leads for Other Republicans in VA Statewide Contests: Two weeks until votes are counted in the election for Virginia Governor, Republican Bob McDonnell continues to dominate Democrat Creigh Deeds, according to a SurveyUSA poll for WJLA-TV Washington DC and WDBJ-TV Roanoke. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released two weeks ago, McDonnell is up 5 points; Deeds is down 3. Today, it's McDonnell 59%, Deeds 40%. McDonnell leads among both men and women, young and old, rich and poor, educated and less-educated, and in all regions of the state. In the contest for...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyHqArAAZhI&feature=player_embedded#

According to a new News7 SurveyUSA poll, if the governor's election was held today, Republican Bob McDonnell would easily win the race over Democrat Creigh Deeds. It shows McDonnell with a 59 percent to 40 percent lead over Deeds.

With just over two weeks left until Virginia’s gubernatorial election, Democrat Creigh Deeds is left with a narrow path to victory, one that hinges on energizing key demographic groups and the durability of the Old Dominion’s new politics. Even as Deeds trails Republican Bob McDonnell by eight and nine points in two of the most recent polls, his campaign and other analysts can still envision a comeback made possible in no small part because of the state’s political turn leftward. Virginia’s Washington, D.C. suburbs, where one-third of voters reside, have gone from being a battleground region to a Democratic bulwark...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell has a detailed plan for tackling transportation issues that includes everything from tolls to privatizing ABC stores in order to gain revenue specifically for transportation. While everything in his transportation plan may not work, we are impressed at the effort he put forth in coming up with solutions, something his opponent seemed wary of doing. ... Of course, being a Republican, he is also eager to trim waste from the state’s budget and maintain low taxes, both things we appreciate. We are afraid that taxes would be a simple answer to many problems from...

Largest contributions Top donors to the McDonnell and Deeds campaigns in September:

The body is not even cool yet. Hell, the election hasn't even happened yet, and the Democrats are already trying to figure what went is going to go wrong. Now this is my kind of campaign. Some may remember that Clinton White House Hotelier and Barista Terry McAuliffe ran for Virginia governor this year and lost in the primary to Creigh Deeds. Deeds had 50% of the vote with McAuliffe at 26% and Brian Moran at 24%. The New York Times thinks that maybe the Virginia Democrats drew the short straw with Deeds.

The debate is being streamed live at the link above.

Democrat Creigh Deeds is not backing off negative campaign ads against Republican Bob McDonnell, at least in the Northern Virginia area. The campaign this morning releases a new spot already airing in the Washington area, which attacks McDonnell's claim, featured on many campaign signs, that he is "Fairfax's Own" because of his Northern Virginia childhood. "Bob McDonnell says he's from Fairfax County," the narrator says. "But that was before he attended Pat Robertson's law school. And served on its board." Before, the narrator continues, he wrote that working women are detrimental to the family, he introduced 35 bills on abortion...

LEESBURG, Va. — When President Obama captured the White House nearly a year ago, his victory in Virginia was, for many Democrats, one of the most heartening moments of the night.

President Barack Obama is facing defeat in his first electoral test since he won the White House, with the Republicans leading the polls for the governor's race in the swing state of Virginia. Just nine months into his presidency, Mr Obama has proved more of a hindrance than a help to the Democratic candidate, Creigh Deeds. Unlike Democrats across the country in 2008, the state senator is keeping a very loose grip on the president's coat-tails. "Frankly, a lot of what's going on in Washington has made it very tough," he said at a recent forum, adding that voters were...

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Reuters) – Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia face possible defeat in November, despite strong showings by President Barack Obama in those states last year, in elections that could render the first judgments on the Obama presidency. New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a close Obama ally, is struggling to win re-election in the face of a strong challenge by Republican Christopher Christie. The Obama administration has turned out in support of Corzine, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive. At a rally in Atlantic City this week, Vice President Joe Biden said it was "critically...

Creigh Deeds, the Democrat running for governor of Virginia, may not be much of a candidate, but he has a future as a political commentator. During a recent interview, Deeds explained his trouble gaining political traction: "Frankly, a lot of what's going on in Washington has made it very tough. We had a very tough August because people were just uncomfortable with the spending; they were uncomfortable with a lot of what was going on, a lot of the noise that was coming out of Washington, D.C." Some of this is blame-shifting. Deeds has made plenty of mistake...But Deeds is...

I was going to put this in the Newsstand, but there is so much good stuff in this Washington Post/ABC Poll and the accompanying article that it needs a full post. I'll give you the highlights but the Post story is worth your time. First off, McDonnell leads by 53-44, a margin of 9, up 4 points from last month in the same poll. But that isn't really even the story. Deeds is tanking in pretty much every demographic and in places he should be doing well. But let's not waste the Post's take on it with a paraphrase.

Republican Robert F. McDonnell has taken a commanding lead over R. Creigh Deeds in the race for governor of Virginia, as momentum the Democrat had built with an attack on his opponent's conservative social views has dissipated, according to a new Washington Post poll.

With a name like Deeds, using AC/DC in an ad is a gimme.

When your name is Creigh Deeds, your opposition is going to be awfully tempted to use the AC/DC song. When you run a negative campaign, you kind of invite it. When Rep. Jim Moran, a Democrat (and brother of one of Deeds's primary rivals), starts telling the press that his campaign is too negative, and that, "he's got to give people a reason to vote for Creigh" . . . well, the temptation is overwhelming. Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican Party of Virginia fills a need:

I've been seeing a new commercial for Creigh Deeds recently. It's been getting a lot of airtime in the Northern Virginia market. Although I'm glad to see the Deeds campaign try to return to a discussion about the issues, I think I'm more impressed that they could make this one with a straight face. (Notice that Senator Warner's voice is cracking a bit. Must be from all the spit-takes that they probably had to run through to get this commercial done). Video, after the jump.

Election 2009: Virginia Governor Election Virginia Governor: McDonnell 51% Deeds 42%

Is Virginia denying military voters the chance to vote in its state election this November? That’s what I gather from this post from the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder and this post from Republican blogger Soren Dayton. There’s some shabby history here. In 1944 Republicans and Southern Democrats in Congress ganged up to make it difficult for military personnel—about 12 million men at the time—to vote; Republicans believed that most G.I.s would vote for Franklin Roosevelt, and Southern Democrats feared that black G.I.s would vote and get into the habit of voting. In 2000 some Democrats in Florida tried to prevent military...

Last year, we covered some of the problems in the counting of military absentee ballots in Virginia, as did others. This problem has not gone away. It has just moved. The day before election day 2008, the McCain campaign filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia to force Virginia to count military absentee ballots that came in after election day. McCain lost Virginia by more than enough votes, but the case went on with the Department of Justice replacing the McCain campaign.There were filings last month and will likely be a hearing this month. So what? The Virginia...

The Democratic National Committee is sending an additional $1 million to aid Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds’ campaign, POLITICO has learned. The money comes in addition to the $5 million the party committee has already committed to the Virginia race, one of two governors races in the country this fall. “We’re thrilled with the additional commitment from Governor Kaine and the DNC,” said Deeds senior adviser Mo Elleithee. “The fact that they are digging so deep shows that they’re fully committed to Creigh and to this race, and we’re appreciative of their continued support.” In addition to the cash,...

The State of Virginia has argued in a federal court filing that they can legally send out absentee ballots to active duty soldiers the day before an election. Restated again, the Democratic Chairwoman of the Virginia State Board of Election (appointed by the Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine, in his capacity as Virginia Governor) Jean Cunningham just claimed a legal basis for massively raising the barrier to voting for soldiers at war.

For all the claims of opponents, political advertisements rarely contain absolute falsehoods. When they do, even the most biased news outlets feel compelled to call out brazen lies. But there is a wide gulf between outright lies and the truth. Much of the political warfare is fought in this murky battleground of “technically correct” and “deliberately misleading.” News organizations are less likely to police this turf, and when they do, enforcement is often clouded by the political leanings of the reporters and editors. Here’s a little quiz. Which candidate for governor, being questioned by several reporters, turned to the female...

In VA, Republicans Still Above 50% in All 3 Statewide November Contests: Virginia Republicans continue to dominate the statewide contests for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General in elections today, 09/29/09, five weeks until votes are counted, according to SurveyUSA polling for WDBJ-TV Roanoke and WJLA-TV Washington DC. In the race for Governor, Republican Bob McDonnell today defeats Democrat Creigh Deeds by 14 points, 55% to 41%. Compared to identical SurveyUSA polls released four and nine weeks ago, little has changed. McDonnell receives majorities from both men and women, young and old, rich and poor, college graduates and those who...

A new state-wide poll gives Republican Bob McDonnell a double digit lead in the race for Governor. The latest News 7 Survey USA poll has McDonnell ahead of Democrat Creigh Deeds by 14 percentage points, with 55 percent of the vote to 41 percent. Little has changed since two previous surveys four weeks and nine weeks ago. Both showed McDonnell with a commanding lead. Other surveys suggest the race is much closer than that. Harry Wilson, director of the Center for Community Research at Roanoke College weighed in. "The immediate reaction is it seems to be out of line with...