Creigh Deeds, running for the 2009 Democratic nomination for governor, has picked up a laurel from organized labor in his announced rival’s backyard.

The Washington Building and Construction Trades Council on Friday named Deeds, a state senator from rural Bath County, Legislator of the Year.

Vance Ayres, the council’s executive secretary-treasurer, said, “The simple fact is Creigh Deeds is a leader in the fight for working families and getting our economy back on track.”

The council, an arm of the AFL-CIO, represents ironworkers, electricians, painters and other construction workers.

The Washington area is the home base of Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria, another Democrat running for governor next year.

A second Northern Virginian may make the race: Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and FoB&H—Friend of Bill and Hillary.

Warner says the U.S. should not put an “artificial timeline,” but that it is time to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.

Gilmore shot back at Warner, saying: “National defense and national security is too important for a flip-flopper.”

Warner pointed out that in June 2007 Gilmore wrote a column in the Washington Post in which he called on President Bush to draw down the troops in Iraq.

“I don’t think we’re going to deport 12 million people,” Warner says. Echoing Barack Obama’s language, he says the nation must strengthen border security, then illegal immigrants must go to “the back of the line” for an opportunity to work toward citizenship.

Gilmore says “there cannot be a path to citizenship,” without a reform of immigration laws.

Jim Gilmore says there was no budget shortfall after he left office in 2002 and that he left $1 billion in the state’s rainy-day fund.

Warner says Gilmore left the state’s budget in a mess, so he had to cut spending and raise taxes $1.4 billion when he took office.

“We inherited the problem and we fixed it,” Warner said.

“None of that is true in any state or form,” Gilmore says.

“I not only would have voted against this bill. I am telling you it was wrong and I would have voted no,” Gilmore said.

“I would have protected the taxpayer, Mark Warner would not,” Gilmore said.

Warner said he did not think the plan was perfect, but “we had to act” to avert a seizing of the credit markets.

“We didn’t have the luxury of waiting,” Warner said.

“Give credit to Sarah Palin. It was the Sarah Palin of the early part of the campaign, not the Sarah Palin that showed up for the Katie Couric interview. She was spirited, she came out well, she came out strong. I think there’s every reason that conservatives would be happy.

“That said, Joe Biden gave the best debate performance of his life. I thought he had superior knowledge, I thought he had superiority in the debate over all. On political points, it may be a bit of a draw. As a debate I thought he was a superior debater.”

— Biden’s voice catching as he recalled wondering whether his sons, Beau and Hunter, would survive the 1972 car crash that killed his first wife, Neilia, and their infant daughter, Naomi.

He disputed “the notion that somehow, because I’m a man I don’t know what’s it’s like to raise two kids alone,” that “I don’t know what’s it’s like to have a child you’re not sure is going to make it. I understand.”

--- Biden saying “Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had ... in American history.”

—Biden saying the idea that the vice president is part of the legislative branch is “a bizarre notion, invented by Cheney, to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive—and look where it’s gotten us.”

-- Palin telling Biden: “Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq.”

-- Palin, winking through the camera, presumably at John McCain, when talking about their differences over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“At least we can agree to disagree on that one,” she said. “I will keep pushing him on ANWR. I have so appreciated he has never asked me to check my opinions at the door.”

—Palin wielding a cliche two-fer, telling Biden “Say it ain’t so, Joe” and dusting off President Reagan’s line to Walter Mondale: “There you go again.”

“Now doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.”

—Biden calling McCain’s health-care plan “the ultimate bridge to nowhere.”

—Palin’s “shout out to 3rd graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School.” Palin’s brother, Chuck Heath, is a teacher at the Anchorage school.

—Biden saying—not once, but twice—that he loves McCain.

“There have been huge blunders in the war,” she said. “There have been huge blunders throughout this administration, as there are with every administration.

“But for a (Democratic) ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there’s just too much finger-pointing backwards to ever make us believe that that’s where you’re going.

“Positive change is coming, though. Reform of government is coming. We’ll learn from the past mistakes in this administration and other administrations.”

Biden said tonight that he has a 25-year record of support for clean-coal technology. “A comment in a rope line was taken out of context,” he says.

Biden is talking about his comments last month after a campaign appearance in Ohio, that were captured in a video and aired on YouTube. In Ohio Biden told an anti-coal protester: “No coal plants here in America. We’re not supporting clean coal.”

Biden says he was making the point that America needs to export “clean-coal” technology to China so that when it burns coal the process will be cleaner.

Barack Obama has received the endorsement of the United Mine Workers of America.