“Frankly, I don’t think [President Obama]’s getting enough credit right now for lots of good signs that are emerging in the economy,” Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds said, as unemployment hit 9.8 percent, the job-seeker-to-job-opening ratio was the worst in a decade, durable-goods orders and housing resales plunged, and mass layoffs increased 24.7 percent.

Also, for a guy who needs a lot of Obama voters to turn out, he’s taking an interesting tone:

“Frankly, a lot of what’s going on in Washington has made it very tough,” Deeds said in a candidate forum put on by Politico, WJLA television, Google and YouTube. “We had a very tough August because people were just uncomfortable with the spending. They were uncomfortable with a lot of the noise that was coming out of Washington, D.C.”
Deeds said his campaign is now “re-framing” the race to keep a focus on Virginia issues. He told the moderators that he disagrees with Obama on “some issues” but only named one: the cap-and-trade legislation currently before Congress.

That’s strange; a month ago, Deeds was saying he was confident that Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner would ensure the cap and trade bill would be good for Virginia.