Interview – JIM GERAGHTY – National Review – preview VA gubernatorial debate tonight

• A new poll shows a very tight race for governor in Virginia. Northam, Gillespie locked in tight race for Virginia governor. WASHINGTON — Two new polls show a very tight race for governor in Virginia. One poll by the University of Mary Washington gave Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam a 5-point lead over Republican Ed Gillespie, with 44 percent of likely voters favoring Northam compared to 39 percent backing Gillespie, according to the statewide poll of likely voters conducted between Sept. 5 through 12. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points. Libertarian candidate Cliff Hyra has the support of 3 percent of likely voters, with others undecided in the 1,000-person survey of Virginia adults.
• Gubernatorial election debate broadcast live Tuesday night. Two of the three candidates for governor in the Nov. 7 election will face off Tuesday night in a debate being broadcast across Virginia. Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam are scheduled to answer questions from journalists and a government and politics expert in a one-hour forum to be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on NBC affiliates statewide, including WAVY-TV in Hampton Roads. Missing will be Cliff Hyra, the Libertarian candidate , who was not invited. Hyra, a patent attorney, was excluded because the debate has traditionally been limited to candidates from the two major parties, said Alex Thompson, spokeswoman for the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which is co-sponsoring the event with George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. The debate, moderated by NBC “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd, also will be livestreamed at NBCWashington.com It will be the second debate between Northam, Virginia’s lieutenant governor, and Gillespie, a communications consultant long active in Republican politics. Their first was July 22 before the Virginia Bar Association.
• Geraghty: The Difficulty in Finding True Northam. (by Jim Geraghty) — We haven’t had a new poll in the Virginia governor’s race in about three weeks, and campaign commercials are starting to pop up more frequently on the local television airwaves. In a dramatic change from last cycle, when wealthy Democrat Terry McAuliffe outspent Republican Ken Cuccinelli two to one, this year Republican Ed Gillespie is spending more — $1.7 million compared to Democrat Ralph Northam’s $1.1 million. The Washington Post notices that a Northam ad tells viewers to go online and check out his tax plan… without, you know, actually having a tax plan on his web site.  There is no detailed tax plan on Northam’s campaign website, aside from his call to lower grocery taxes for poor people and to create a bipartisan tax panel. What’s more, Northam’s campaign said in April it would release a set of “guiding principles” on tax reform within a week. It never did, and a reference to that promise to voters was removed from the campaign’s website — until a reporter pointed it out.