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Here’s the pool report I filed from the July 16, 2009 private fundraiser for State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, with Vice President Biden at the home of Leon and Lisa Roday:

Guests arrived around 5:30 at the Roday home in the affluent Riverlake Colony subdivision, located along Richmond’s River Road corridor, which is technically in Henrico County.

Around 100 people were in attendance at the Rodays, a spacious and comfortable brick home which has a small putting green in the backyard. Leon Roday is a senior vice president at Genworth Financial, based in Richmond, and the Rodays have been contributors to Democratic Governor Timothy M. Kaine. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Genworth has contributed $15,000 in 2009 to both Deeds and Republican candidate Bob McDonnell.

Guests paid a minimum of $1,000 a head to attend; more to pose for a picture with the Vice President. Deeds campaign officials declined to specify how much money was raised at the event.

Included on the guest list were Genworth executives, politically-active attorneys from prominent law firms in the city, local business executives and assorted other Democratic money folks. Larry Roberts, former counsel to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine who now works for Kaine at the Democratic National Committee, was also in attendance—but he said he was there as a donor, not in an official capacity.

Inside, guests mingled downstairs and munched on shrimp cocktail, beef tenderloin, chicken skewers, grilled vegetables, fruit, cheese, cookies and brownies. They washed it all down with imported beer and Virginia wines, including a cabernet franc from Barboursville vineyards.

Vice President Biden arrived at 6:35 in a motorcade escorted by a dozen Virginia State Police troopers on motorcycle. Biden was accompanied by Kaine’s wife, Virginia First Lady Anne Holton, and Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones. Biden posed for photos on the backyard patio with the Rodays and their two teenage boys, before entering the house to a den area where donors waited to have their pictures taken with him.

The program began at 6:55 p.m., with Leon Roday speaking at a slender podium erected at the end of his kitchen counter, while Creigh Deeds and the Vice President stood behind him, leaning against the sink counter.

Roday hailed Deeds as a “pro-business, pro-family Democrat who will work to grow our economy,” and “make sure that Virginia remains what it is today—the best state to do business. He called Deeds a “straight shooter who has been outspoken and underestimated” since his mother packed him off to college with four $20 bills in his pocket.

Deeds spoke next. Reflecting on his surprising and dramatic primary win on June 9, he pointed across the room to his colleague in the Virginia Senate, Donald McEachin, saying: “We plan our work and work our plan.”

With 110 days left in the primary Deeds said Republican naysayers were wrong about what would happen following the bruising three-way contest for the Democratic nomination for governor.

“We are not poor. We are not tired. We are not divided,” he told the crowd, to applause.

He noted a difference between Biden and himself—Biden’s a Phillies fan, Deeds is a Reds fan. But he put in a bid for a slice of the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds up for grabs to develop high-speed rail across the nation.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could get a bunch of that money?” he asked, turning to a smiling Biden. “Vice President Biden, you could be making a lot more trips to Virginia a lot quicker.”

Vice President Biden began his remarks at 7:09 p.m and ended at 7:29. He started with a thank you to the Rodays and especially to Leon Roday’s wife and two boys.

“The last thing two teenage guys want on a beautiful summer day is, ‘The Vice President is coming. Put on your suit,” Biden quipped to laughter. Biden himself looked trim in a natty blue suit and print tie with white pocket square.

He referred to one of his own sons, Beau Biden, the Delaware Attorney General currently serving in Iraq and expected to return home in late September or early October, as “the popular Biden in Delaware.”

Biden told a story from his days running for Senate in Delaware, when a Senate colleague offered to help his campaign. The Vice President told him that he could be a help with some constituents in the state but hurt him with others. Borrowing the line his colleague delivered years ago, Biden applied it to his support for Deeds:

“Creigh, I’ll campaign for you or against you—whatever will help you the most,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.

Biden said he and Deeds have a lot in common, citing support for law enforcement in their legislative agendas and a commitment to developing a new transportation system for the 21st century.

“Our future rests in large part, whether or not we have a transportation grid that makes sense,” Biden said.”...If we don’t change drastically we’re going to be not only gridlock on the highways, but gridlock on productivity,” he added, saying America loses $115 billion a year in lost productivity from traffic jams.

“How can we have a country that leads the world if we have a 19th century transportation system?” he asked.

Biden called Virginia “one of the three most beautiful states in America…it’s a magnificent state,” he told the crowd. “I think North Carolina and New York are the other two.”

The Vice President then discussed what he likes about Deeds. He recalled what he told President Obama when he was asked to be the vice president:

“Two things I won’t do—is wear funny hats or change my brand,” Biden recalled. “The thing I love about this guy (Deeds) is he has never changed his brand.”

Telling the donors that he loves them “even more since we won the state,” Biden asked them to go a step further for Deeds:

“I ask you as a personal favor—break your neck for this man. Because you’ve got something really going here.”

Biden says he will return to campaign for Deeds. “This is the real deal. .. I without any reservation whatsoever, am proud to associate myself with Creigh.”

After speaking Biden stayed in the home for 10 more minutes to shake hands. Then he headed out to his limo, but first walked across the yard into the backyard of the Roday’s neighbors to say hello to some children playing. The Vice President departed at 7:48 en route to Richmond airport.

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