In case you missed it...Richmond Voice endorses McAuliffe; excerpts from the endorsement follow below. The Voice endorsement comes shortly after last week's endorsement by the Richmond Free Press.

McAuliffe for Governor
Richmond Voice
June 3, 2009

Virginia's next governor should be able to truthfully tell Virginians that he is doing everything he can to help them navigate these troubled economic waters.

Only three of the four men running to be governor can be trusted to tell the truth on the issue. They include State Sen. Creigh Deeds, former Del. Brian Moran and former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe. All three are Democrats whose final face off for the governorship will take place during Tuesday's Democratic primary. The victor will go on to face the Republican nominee for governor, former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

The VOICE editorial team met with Sen. Deeds and McAuliffe recently, and we like both their plans for bringing jobs for Virginia, focusing on green economy and energy renewability, sprucing up Virginia's education system and public transportation as well as ensuring that our teachers have incentives to stay put, among other things.

While we believe that all three Democratic candidates will do a better job than McDonnell, we are confident that McAuliffe is the strongest candidate to beat McDonnell in November. In addition, we know that he will continue laying the groundwork for sensible spending and fairness that fellow Democrats, Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, have laid in Virginia over the last eight years.

Job creation is the biggest issue of this time and McAuliffe's campaign, highlighting his background as a successful businessman, has framed it shrewdly from the outset. "I started my first business at 14," says McAuliffe in one of the many ads his campaign has aired since he entered the race in January.

His approach of mixing politics and business may rub some the wrong way, but it makes him a stronger candidate who understands how to use the numerous connections he has to move forward. We are all opportunistic in one way or another and there's nothing wrong with electing an opportunist who can help Virginia continue to move forward.

We like McAuliffe's conviction that once a Virginian has served his/her imposed time of prison/probation/parole or jail he/she should automatically regain lost voting rights.

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] คคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคคค