McCain campaign names Va. director

From Wire Reports
Published: June 30, 2008

By TYLER WHITLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Mike Reynold has taken a five-month leave of absence from Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s campaign for governor to direct Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in Virginia.

Reynold will work out of the state headquarters in Arlington County.

McCain, who will be nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in September, also named Nick Meads as Virginia Victory 2008 director. He also will work out of the Arlington office.

Virginia Victory 2008 will coordinate the McCain campaign with congressional campaigns and the U.S. Senate campaign.

Meads was campaign manager for Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R-11th, in his successful bid for re-election to the House of Representatives in 2006.

The campaign plans to deploy eight field staffers to five regional offices in Virginia. The Richmond regional office will be at 2819 N. Parham Road in Henrico County.

The campaign of McCain’s Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, named a Virginia director two weeks ago: Mitch Stewart, a former Iowa caucus director for Obama.

The Obama campaign has named Stacey Brayboy as deputy state director and Kevin Griffis as Virginia communications director. Brayboy was director of Obama’s primary campaigns in Virginia and South Carolina. She also was a director of Timothy M. Kaine’s successful campaign for governor in 2005. Griffis is a former communications director of the Democratic Party of Virginia.

The Obama campaign also has sent 250 volunteers into Virginia. Obama has begun a television advertisement in the state, another signal that he has targeted a state that has not gone Democratic in a presidential race since 1964.

McCain has begun a new television ad spotlighting his energy plan that will run on national cable television in Virginia but is not aimed directly at Virginia.

In another development, Obama’s name will be first on the presidential ballot in Virginia on Nov. 4, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Elections said. The board drew a canister out of a glass bowl, and it contained Obama’s name.

Steve Farnsworth, political scientist at the University of Mary Washington, said, “It’s better to be first.” In a close race with only a few hundred votes separating the candidates, the first placement could make a difference, he said.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .