Non-transferable popularity

Creigh Deeds has put a lot of effort into tying himself to Mark Warner and his bipartisan popularity but so far it doesn't seem to be working.

Republicans who approve of Warner's job performance are still voting for Bob McDonnell by a margin of 88-7. With independents who approve of Warner but not of Barack Obama it's a 67-33 McDonnell advantage.

Warner's popularity across party lines doesn't seem to be transferable, at least so far.

Tim Kaine's crossover appeal is more limited than Warner's, but his friends across party lines aren't going for Deeds either. McDonnell has an 83-5 lead with those folks.

I don't know how Deeds gets those voters at this point or if it's even possible. With the small numbers of voters changing their minds over the last few months his path to victory is probably going to have to come by turning out more Obama voters than are currently planning to cast a ballot this fall.