In the SurveyUSA poll taken in late July, Republican Bob McDonnell led the Virginia Governor’s race by 15 percentage points.

In the SurveyUSA poll taken this week, after his Creigh Deeds and Democrats and the Washington Post insisted that a 20-year-old thesis was, by far, the most important issue in the race, Republican Bob McDonnell led the Virginia Governor’s race by… 12 percentage points. And the Republicans lead the lieutenant governor and attorney general’s races by similar margins.

(The other poll done this week, by Rasmussen, but McDonnell up by 9 percentage points.)

Not quite the game-changer they expected.