DEEDS FOR VERGINIA
Deeds: Democrats’ national agenda has made campaign ‘tough’ Posted: October 6th, 2009 10:02 PM ET From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby Democrat Creigh Deeds appeared at a candidate forum in northern Virginia on Tuesday. WASHINGTON (CNN) — Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, a Democrat, argued Tuesday that the Obama administration’s contentious economic agenda has been a drag on his campaign. With slightly under a month to go until Election Day on November 3, Deeds trails Republican Bob McDonnell in the polls. McDonnell has tried to tie Deeds to some of the more controversial legislative items being debated in Washington, particularly health care reform and the union-friendly Employee Free Choice Act. “Frankly, a lot of what’s going on in Washington has made it very tough,” Deeds said in a candidate forum put on by Politico, WJLA television, Google and YouTube. “We had a very tough August because people were just uncomfortable with the spending. They were uncomfortable with a lot of the noise that was coming out of Washington, D.C.” Deeds said his campaign is now “re-framing” the race to keep a focus on Virginia issues. He told the moderators that he disagrees with Obama on “some issues” but only named one: the cap-and-trade legislation currently before Congress. He did, however, give the president points for his handling of economic crisis. “Frankly, I don’t think he’s getting enough credit right now for lots of good signs that are emerging in the economy,” he said. Filed under: Bob McDonnell • Creigh Deeds • Virginia Permalink Stimulus money for innovations in education announced Posted: October 6th, 2009 08:30 PM ET From CNN’s Sally Holland WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. Department of Education is looking to give innovative school districts and non-profit organizations a share of $650 million in education stimulus money now available in a new fund, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Tuesday. “There are many, many great ideas out there,” Duncan told reporters on a conference call announcing his department’s Investing in Innovation fund. This newest pot of education stimulus money will be allocated directly to local districts — not through state education departments — with the money going to districts that either have a program that is working and needs to be expanded, or have a new idea that needs to be developed
