McDonnell eludes questions about Palin appearance

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — If Virginia's Republican candidate for governor wants Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's help this fall, his campaign isn't saying.

Bob McDonnell wouldn't comment Tuesday on whether Palin, who abruptly announced her resignation last weekend, fits into his campaign plans.

Press inquiries are met with a noncommittal one-sentence reply from campaign spokesman Tucker Martin: ``There are no announcements of any events with Governor Palin to date.''

In an online interview earlier Tuesday with ABCNews.com, McDonnell praised Palin's conservative credentials, but stopped short of saying he wanted her to campaign for him in Virginia.

Only two states, Virginia and New Jersey, hold statewide elections for governor and other offices this fall, and Palin is forcing campaigns in Virginia to calculate whether the number of conservative voters she energizes exceeds the number of voters she repels.

``She's a very polarizing figure. A lot of people love her, a lot of people just as strongly dislike her. Nobody's neutral about her,'' said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Democrats have no shortage of assets they can muster from the state's two senators, Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner, to President Barack Obama. And Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, barred by Virginia law from seeking re-election, can flood the state with other big-name Democrats and millions of dollars as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

While McDonnell's advisers ponder whether to embrace Palin, there's no such indecision for Republican Ken Cuccinelli, one of the state Senate's most conservative members.

``Hey, I'll bring in Sarah Palin, you let (Democrat) Steve Shannon bring in (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi,'' said Cuccinelli's chief adviser, Chris LaCivita.

``From an issues standpoint ... on things like taxes, cap-and-trade, offshore drilling for natural gas and petroleum, there's no light between us on those,'' said LaCivita, a longtime GOP strategist who orchestrated the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attack against Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race.

Less noticed but more important long-term to the GOP this fall is protecting its slim majority in the 100-seat House of Delegates. Democrats hold a one-seat Senate majority, and should they retain the governor's office and take the five GOP seats necessary to win a House majority, they would single-handedly redraw Virginia's legislative and congressional districts, locking in their gains for years to come.

G. Paul Nardo, chief of staff to Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell, said a potential role for Palin hasn't been discussed yet, ``but if that would help, I'm sure we wouldn't be averse to it.''

In the battle for the House, Palin could be an enormous fundraising boon for Republican political action committees that Howell and other GOP legislative leaders control. With no limits on campaign contributions in Virginia, that could provide a rich vein of cash for Republicans battling to keep their seats in the swing districts of Washington, D.C.'s suburbs without alienating their moderate to left-of-center voters.