According to the Virginia Public Access project, Deeds for Governor pocketed $500,000 from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on Friday, June 26, and an additional $400,000 from the Democratic Governor’s Association on June 27.

Deeds could use the dollars, having nearly exhausted his campaign treasury in his decisive victory June 9 in the Democratic primary over rivals Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran.

“The Deeds campaign will work with community and news organizations and the McDonnell campaign to schedule a series of debates, so that all Virginians have the opportunity to hear the stark differences between the two candidates,“ read a statement released by the Deeds camp late this afternoon.

“We expect the number of debates to be in line with precedent from the 2005 Kaine-Kilgore and Deeds-McDonnell debate schedules.“

In 2005, the candidates for governor and attorney general debated three times leading up to the November election. In 2009, McDonnell is asking for 10 debates, including a series of three debates in less than a week: Oct. 6 in Arlington, Oct. 9 in Roanoke and Oct. 12 in Richmond.

“Creigh is eager to go out and debate Bob McDonnell, but we’re going to do it on independent terms, not Bob McDonnell’s terms,“ said Deeds press secretary Jared Leopold.

Interesting to note that back in the 2005 primary fight for the GOP attorney general nomination, Richmond attorney Steve Baril challenged McDonnell to a series of seven political debates across the Commonwealth in advance of the June 14 GOP primary.

According to an article in the Augusta Free Press at the time, McDonnell’s campaign accused Baril of “grandstanding.“

“This letter is nothing more than grandstanding by a struggling campaign,“ said McDonnell’s campaign manager, Janet Polarek.

To date, only one gubernatorial debate is confirmed—July 25 at the Homestead Resort on Deeds turf in Bath County.

No comment yet from the Deeds camp.

“Virginians are tired of sound bite campaigns. They want to know where the candidates stand on the issues of today. And they want to hear this directly from the candidates,“ McDonnell said in a release.

“This series of 10 gubernatorial debates statewide from July through October will reinvigorate political discourse in Virginia, and ensure that this race is marked by a serious discussion of the major issues facing the Commonwealth.“

Here’s some props to the Deeds campaign for at least explaining to their would-be donors why there’s been such a fund-raising frenzy these last couple of weeks:

“We must close the quarter strong. Whether we like it or not, our opponents, the press, and the pundits will judge the strength of our campaign based on our fund-raising numbers,“ reads an email sent by Deeds today to supporters.

Money, however, should not be an issue this campaign, one of only two governor’s races in the country. Both national party organizations have signaled their willingness to pour funds into commonwealth. And you can pretty much bank on a visit by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Deeds’ behalf.

“They’ve indicated they do want to be helpful,“ Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said today on his monthly radio show.

His response to the hosts of the “Ask the Governor” radio show on WTOP in Northern Virginia was consistent with what he’s been saying: I won’t show you, but if you ask, I’ll tell you.

“The governor’s working papers, phone records, travel records, etc., are protected under the FOIA laws,“ Kaine told host Mark Seagraves.

“...I’m going to answer any questions about where I go, and whenever reporters ask, I tell them,“ he added.

Seagraves pressed Kaine on the issue, noting that just because the law, as interpreted by the governor’s office, gives him the ability to keep the records confidential, it doesn’t mean that Kaine has to do so.

“Shouldn’t your constituents expect more than legal sufficiency?“ he asked.

Kaine insisted he was still “very open” about where he is and what he does.

The Washington Post and Republican Party of Virginia both asked Kaine to turn over the records in a Freedom of Information Act request. Last Friday, the administration turned down the request, characterizing those records as “working papers” and suggested that the parties petition the Virginia State Police to obtain more information on the records of the security detail that protects Kaine around the clock, regardless of whether he is on state business or personal business. State GOP chairman Pat Mullins let the legal battle drop, having made the political point, suggested it would cost too many state resources to pursue the matter in court. But Mullins also knows he may not have precedent on his side.

Kaine said previous governors did not release such private schedule details . And no other Virginia governors—including former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who served as Republican National Committee—reimbursed the state for security costs incurred during out-of-state political trips unrelated to their day jobs.

Kaine, whose personal travel is paid for by the DNC, said last week that the national party will also pay for the costs of his Virginia State Police security when he travels on party business.

The answer is Leigh Anne Collier, who fills in as Interim Executive Director through the November election, according to a letter sent by state party chairman C. Richard Cranwell. Collier served as Deputy Executive Director for Finance and Operations from March 2008 through this past February. A native of Richmond and a graduate of the University of Richmond, Collier worked on the Kaine for Governor campaign in 2004, and as finance director for Kaine’s political action committee, Moving Virginia Forward. She also served as a deputy budget director for state operations in Hilary Clinton’s presidential bid. Most recently, she worked for gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe as a deputy finance director. 

The previous executive director of the party, Levar Stoney, has taken a leave of absence from the DPVA to join the Deeds campaign as Political Director.

According to Politico, this year Perriello turned away the center’s application for $1 million, sending Sabato acolytes searching for alternative funding.

Sabato, who predicted Goode would repeat int he 5th, told Politico he doesn’t know why he lost his funding and says he’s never let a relationship get in the way of calling races them as he sees them.

Perriello spokeswoman Jessica Barba told Politico that the rejection did not emanate from Sabato’s doubts about Perriello.

She told the online pub: “Congressman Perriello certainly respects and supports the work of the Center for Politics and the [center’s] Youth Leadership Initiative, but it did not meet his criteria for appropriations requests, which were focused on clean energy investments, infrastructure and job-creation projects.”

Kevin Hall, the communications director for U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner and former press secretary of Gov.Tim Kaine, joins the campaign as a senior adviser. Mike Gehrke, a veteran of national presidential campaigns, will serve as communications director. And Democratic party spinmeister Jared Leopold rounds out the team as press secretary, replacing primary season press secretary Brooke Borkenhagen.

“That would be in some ways a dream job,“ said Kaine, who had been rumored to be interested in the VCU president’s job last year, before president Barack Obama tapped him to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “But again, I have a very significant responsibility the president asked me to take on, and I’m going to do all I can to do a great job there and that’s going to keep me busy for some significant period of time into the future.“

Kaine said he would stay out of the selection process and let the University’s Board of Governors make the decision.

“My strong feeling about these presidencies is that the board should really wrestle with them,“ Kaine said. “U Va. is not going to have a hard time attracting just the creme de la creme of education leaders because of the very pivotal and historic nature of that institution. I’m sure that they’ll have a great field of candidates.“

In a conference call organized by the Democratic Governors Association, John Anzalone and Jeff Liszt said this afternoon that Deeds is ahead of McDonnell, 42 percent to 38 percent. But Deeds’ advantage, in a poll by Anzalone-Liszt Research, is within the survey’s margin of error, plus or minus 4 percent.

The poll was conducted June 10-14—that’s the day after the Democratic primary through Sunday—and is based on interviews with 600 likely voters. It appears to echo a published poll by Rasmussen Reports that put Deeds, post-primary, ahead of McDonnell by 6 percent, 47 percent to 41 percent.

The Democratic Governors Association says the Anzalone-Liszt poll shows, among other things, that attack television ads financed by the group have taken a toll on McDonnell. DGA set up a political-action committee, Common Sense Virginia, and supplied it with about $3 million to a pelt McDonnell in advance of the June 9 primary.

Deeds, a state senator from rural Bath County, won a three-way primary with 50 percent of the vote, defeating former Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria and Terry McAuliffe of McLean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The Deeds-McDonnell contest is a rematch from 2004, when McDonnell was elected attorney general over Deeds by 360 votes. It was the closest statewide election in Virginia history.