First Click -- Virginia

OMG, did you hear what Kanye West said at the MTV video music awards? Kidding, here's what's happening in Virginia politics today.

The candidates for Virginia governor stump in separate parts of the state today, with Republican Robert F. McDonnell addressing attendees at a rural summit in Lynchburg and Democrat R. Creigh Deeds in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, where he is planning to announce what his campaign has billed as a "major endorsement." The ad wars took a sharp turn late last week, and the two men will clash in person at their second debate of the season Thursday in Fairfax.

Education continues to shape up as a key issue of the governor's race. The Post's Anita Kumar examines McDonnell's efforts to ignore, sidestep and deflect the bombs lobbed at him by his critics. Roz Helderman, meanwhile, considers whether Deeds' strategy of running as the heir to centrist Democratic governors Timothy M. Kaine and Mark R. Warner will bear fruit.

The current and former governor had their own bit of the news hole this weekend. The Richmond Times-Dispatch covered another aspect Warner's legacy in the latest chapter of the VITA debacle. Kaine's budget revisions continue to reverberate in the political world and could have special consequences for the lieutenant governor's race, in which Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) is being challenged by former Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner (D).

The Star City Harbinger picks apart a McDonnell campaign e-mail they apparently obtained that offers advice to supporters about writing letters to the editor about McDonnell's graduate school thesis, which you might have heard about.

And what was that word McDonnell said on Mark Plotkin's show on Friday?