Texas Insider

By Greg Giroux, CQ-Roll Call

The bulk of the $7.1 million that the two candidates in the Nov. 3 election for governor of Virginia reporting raising in the first three weeks of October went to front-running Republican Bob McDonnell.

McDonnell, a former state legislator and attorney general, raised $4 million in cash and in-kind contributions during that period, taking his total campaign receipts to date to $21.5 million.

Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator, took in $3.1 million during the three-week period, most of it from the Democratic National Committee, which is headed by outgoing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine . Deeds has raised $16.3 million for the duration of his campaign.

Entering the final two weeks of the campaign, McDonnell had $1.8 million left to spend and Deeds had $938,000.

McDonnell received a big boost this month from the state Republican Party, which reported $1 million in in-kind expenses to his campaign for direct mail. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported $973,000 in in-kind donations to the McDonnell campaign for media services; the business federation has aired television advertisements promoting McDonnell and criticizing Deeds’ positions on transportation policy.

McDonnell received $50,000 in contributions from Richard Gilliam, an executive with Cumberland Resources Group who has given $175,000 to McDonnell’s campaign, and from Smithfield Foods. Sheldon Adelson, a casino executive, gave $20,000.

Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran gave $10,000 to McDonnell’s campaign through his leadership organization, Senate Victory Fund PAC.

McDonnell received contributions from former New York Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (1981-99); former Pennsylvania Rep. Phil English (1995-2009); a political action committee linked to former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson (1994-2003), who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008; and Scott Rigell, an auto dealership owner who is a leading Republican candidate in Virginia’s 2nd District, held by Democratic Rep. Glenn Nye .

Of the $2.76 million in cash contributions that Deeds reported raising in the first three weeks of October, $1.7 million (63 percent) came directly from the DNC, which has given Deeds $3.5 million.

Deeds, who is backed by labor unions, received $100,000 from the American Federation of Teachers and $75,000 from the Communications Workers of America.

Deeds also received $2,400 from the campaign committee of Virginia Rep. James P. Moran , whose brother, former state Rep. Brian Moran, was a rival of Deeds’ for the Democratic nomination for governor.

The novelist John Grisham gave $25,000 to Deeds’ campaign. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota (1987-2005), gave $1,000, as did former Virginia Republican Gov. Linwood Holton Jr., who is also Kaine’s father-in-law