Perdue headlining Deeds fundraiser

Gov. Beverly Perdue is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser for Virginia State Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor in the Old Dominion, on Oct. 1.

The event is at the Capital City Club has a suggested minimum contribution of $500 and an A-list of hosts that includes former Gov. Jim Hunt, Democratic organizer and fundraiser Bruce Thompson, uberfundraiser Peter Reichard and Ruffin Poole, lawyer and former aide to Gov. Mike Easley. Poole most recently made the news when a federal grand jury investigating issues surrounding Easley asked for volumes of communication between the Department of Motor Vehicles and a handful of then-Easley aides, including Poole.

Deeds had been trailing behind the Republican nominee, former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell. But McDonnell has been on defense since a recent Washington Post report by N&O alum Amy Gardner highlighted his graduate school thesis while at CBN (now Regent) University, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. The thesis, among other arguments, characterized working women and feminists as "detrimental to the family." The thesis was written in 1989, but the Post chronicled how McDonnell has pursued 10 of the policy goals articulated in the paper during his 14-year public career.

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