Get to Know Your Candidates: Archive Edition

Get to Know Your Candidates--when we pose off-the wall and lighter questions to the gubernatorial candidates, to help you get to know them better as people instead of politicians. Today's question: Can the candidates sing? Answer: Absolutely! Can they sing well? We'll let you be the judge.

In 2006, a raging debate consumed the General Assembly. At issue, should Virginia delcare "Shenandoah" its official state song, replacing "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," which had been declared the song emeritus some years earlier because of lyrics deemed racist. At the time, this blog was in its infancy. Lawmakers did not yet know to avoid us. We recorded a series of clips of lawmakers and others singing a few bars of Shenandoah, including demo tapes from Sen. Creigh Deeds and then-Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell.

After noticing that the song talks a lot about the Missouri River, which doesn't exactly flow through Virginia, the "Shenandoah" proposal failed. But the recordings live on. Enjoy.

Creigh Deeds sings Shenandoah.

Bob McDonnell sings Shenandoah.