Republican Bob McDonnell has a 2:1 edge over his Democrat opponent R. Creigh Deeds on large donations reported between Oct. 21 and Wednesday.

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, McDonnell brought in $1.01 million during that time in contributions of $5,000 or more, which must be reported within 24 hours of receiving them. Deeds reported $423,987 in the same time frame.

Both candidates reported at least one additional donation today to the State Board of Elections. Deeds received $85,000 from the Democratic Party of Virginia while McDonnell took in $60,000 from four Virginia Beach-based real estate development firms and $10,000 from a former ambassador to Austria.

We’ve been following the last-minute, large-dollar campaign contributions today and just picked up this: a $25,000 check from Donald J. Trump to Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell, the frontrunner in the contest for governor.

The contribution, reported today to the State Board of Election, is the latest in a string of high-dollar donations in the race (see the post below).

McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said today that McDonnell and Trump have spoken and that the real estate mogul “likes Bob’s commitment to job-creation and economic development.“

Trump does have some interest in the state—he owns Lowes Island Golf Club in Northern Virginia.

The developer previously gave $25,000 to Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who lost in a three-way contest for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to R. Creigh Deeds. Deeds today also picked up $22,011 from NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC, according to the State Board of Elections.

Not everything stays in Vegas.

In this case, $20,000 that landed early this week in Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell’s campaign coffers.

According to the State Board of Elections, the donation came from Dr. Miriam Adelson, an internist married to billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Sheldon, who ranked as the country’s 26th richest man in America by Forbes this year, is the chairman of the board and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

The company owns the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the Palazzo Resort-Hotel-Casino as well as resorts in Macao.
The 76-year-old, who has been a significant donor to the Republican Party, saw his fortune drop $19 billion in 2 years to $9 billion, Forbes reports. 

That was just one of the large donations McDonnell took in on Tuesday—all reported as of Wednesday to the State Board of Elections—from the Republican Party of Virginia (more than $250,000 in-kind), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ($20,000) and InTrust Wealth Management in Wichita KS ($50,000).

McDonnell’s Democratic opponent R. Creigh Deeds also brought in some big donations on the same day, including $10,000 from the American Federation of Government Employees and $50,000 from International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor Jody Wagner released a new ad today claiming her opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, put his work as a health insurance executive over state responsibilities by attending “just 6 percent of his state meetings.“

But Bolling’s camp shot back saying he doesn’t work with health insurance — he sells property and casualty insurance as an executive for an independent insurance agency—and it called the 6 percent claim “an outright lie.“

Bolling has attended nearly 80 percent of the meetings for boards he sits on, the campaign says, but that includes presiding over State Senate sessions, which is his primary duty.

His campaign also released a TV ad yesterday, a positive commercial touting his support for expanding a children’s health insurance program and his opposition to higher taxes, among other things.

This ain’t Deeds Country. Just call it the “Barbershop Tour.“

A quartet of Richmond’s African-American state lawmakers will canvass River City’s barbershops and beauty salons on Saturday, as part of the ramped-up effort to drive urban support for the democratic state senator from rural Bath County.

Election experts believe Deeds needs to tap into the 2008 “obama Surge” of new registered voters—many of them black and young—to have a chance of overtaking Republican Bob Mcdonnell on election day. McDonnell, the former attorney general, has a 7 to 9 point lead in the most recent statewide polls and is considered to be running ahead of Deeds in Central Virginia.

State Senator Henry Marsh (D-Richmond), state Senator Don McEachin (D-Richmond), Delegate Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), and Delegate Delores McQuinn (D-Richmond) are expected to attend.

This schedule comes from the Deeds press release, which bills the effort as a “business walk” through downtown:
Saturday, October 17
10:30 am       Deeds Supporters Visit Harvey’s Barbershop
                22 E Broad Street
                Richmond, VA 23223

11:00 am       Deeds Supporters Visit Eugene’s Barbershop
                404 W Broad Street
                Richmond, VA 23220

11:30 am       Deeds Supporters Visit Jahmal’s Hair Salon
                315 N 1st Street
                Richmond, VA 23219

12:00 pm       Supreme’s Hairstyling Lounge
                400 N 1st Street
                Richmond, VA 23219

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