Virginia Tomorrow

From the You Can’t Make This Stuff Up catalog

Democratic leaning blogs assert that the McDonnell booth at a Richmond gun show is displaying a Confederate Flag.

Creigh Deeds’ campaign manager, Joe Abbey, sends out a tweet saying BREAKING NEWS: McDONNELL HAS CONFEDERATE FLAG POSTED IN HIS BOOTH AT GUN SHOW IN RICHMOND

One problem:

The McDonnell people say it’s not their booth and not their flag.

Ouch!

Mo Elliethee, newly appointed spokesperson for the Deeds campaign, tries to clean up the mess that the campaign manager has created and says that it was “Joe’s personal retweet not the campaign’s.

Unfortunately, even a  talented and  experienced guy like Mo can’t spin this one successfully.

Let me get it straight.

The campaign manager for a gubernatorial candidate makes a claim about his opponent that cannot be substantiated

About a highly emotional issue that has often had a significant racial dimension

But it’s a mere “personal retweet” unrelated to the campaign?

Could Mo have said this with a straight face? Or was there a bit of a wink and a “boy did we screw up” demeanor?

I’m not sure how the press corps can let it end with this.

If the flag was really McDonnell’s, it would be all over the state news.  Heck, it’d be a national story by morning.

So what’s to be done about an unproven accusation about the display of the Confederate flag by a Democratic campaign manager.

Talk about teachable moments.

I think it’s an opportunity (and probably an obligation) for Creigh Deeds to step forward personally, to tell Virginians in the clearest possible terms what kind of person he is, what kind of behavior he expects from his own staff, and how he intends to hold the folks who work for him accountable.

I think it’s one of those moments where the candidate shows what kind of Governor he’ll be.