Four years ago, in Virginia’s attorney general race, the National Rifle Association had a choice between two state legislators. The Democrat, from deeply rural Bath County, had been a staunch ally for many years, sponsoring a state constitutional amendment that guaranteed the right to hunt and fish in Virginia, as well as opposing the state’s one-handgun-a-month law. The Republican, who grew up in Fairfax and represented Virginia Beach, had been on the other side of both issues. The NRA decided to back Democrat Creigh Deeds over Republican Bob McDonnell.

This year’s governor’s race features the same two candidates. Today, the NRA is endorsing… Bob McDonnell. In the intervening four years, Creigh Deeds decided to run for governor, and needed to win a tough primary against more liberal Democrats. After the Virginia Tech massacre, Deeds began arguing that the state needed to close the “gun show loophole,” even though the Virginia Tech shooter had not obtained his weapon at a gun show.

The NRA has 120,000 members in Virginia.

The spin from some quarters preferring Deeds is that this development will motivate liberals in Northern Virginia to turn out for Deeds. Uh-huh. Last week we were being assurd that the brouhaha over the thesis and Creigh Deeds’ ads charging that McDonnell wants to take Virginia “back to the dark ages” were going to do that.