McAuliffe Wins NoVa Straw Poll

Wed, March 18, 2009 - 10:09 AM

Terry McAuliffe won a Democratic governor’s race straw poll in Northern Virginia Tuesday night.

McAuliffe, of McLean, won 58 percent of the roughly 1,000 votes cast at Rep. Gerald E. Connolly’s St. Patrick’s Day party. McAuliffe is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee. Former state delegate Brian Moran of Alexandria received 30 percent. State Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County received 12 percent.

With 1,400 people attending the event, Connolly’s $40-a-ticket fundraiser had the largest crowd in its five-year history.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and former lieutenant governor Leslie Byrne both won Connolly’s straw poll before going on to win their respective races. For more on the straw poll and how McAuliffe organized to win it, go here.
--Neil H. Simon