Virginia Politics

Where in the world is Ed?

By Marc Fisher October 26 at 3:00 PM

The lights are on long before dawn at Ed Gillespie’s house on the banks of the Potomac River. In the last days before Virginia chooses its next governor, the Republican candidate is up early. The cars his aides use to shuttle him to campaign stops are already in his driveway.

But on this day less than two weeks before the election, Gillespie will wade into no crowds, face no undecided voters, shake no hands of Virginians except those of high-end donors and his own campaign workers.

He will leave his house in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County only to attend a publicly unannounced fundraiser at the home of the executive in charge of political giving for the billionaire Koch brothers, to speak to a newspaper editorial board, and to visit his volunteers in Fredericksburg.

Gillespie has led something of a stealth campaign this fall, issuing few of the advisories that other campaigns use to let TV stations, newspapers and other media outlets cover their efforts to win votes. ... Even as Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s campaign issues hour-by-hour listings of his appearances, Gillespie, more than any other recent gubernatorial candidate, Republican or Democrat, often avoids reporters, ignores their questions, and advertises his whereabouts mainly to invited audiences.
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Marc Fisher, a senior editor, writes about most anything. He’s been The Post’s enterprise editor, local columnist and Berlin bureau chief, and he’s covered politics, education, pop culture, and much else in three decades on the Metro, Style, National and Foreign desks. Follow @mffisher