Nov. 8 TEXAS: Convicted serial rapist set to die Wednesday for killing teacher The kids who were second-graders in 1993 in suburban Houston's Klein Independent School District are out of high school now, in college or elsewhere, but the handwritten notes some of them scrawled back then still reveal the emotional scars of that school year. Their teacher at Benfer Elementary School, Karen Gail Crawford, had been attacked the Wednesday before Easter outside her apartment in Tomball in northwest Harris County. Two days later, she died. The man convicted of killing her, Charles Daniel Thacker, is set for lethal injection Wednesday evening. He would be the 17th condemned Texas inmate put to death this year. "I'd forgotten until I opened the file and started pulling out these children's notebook papers," said Joe Owmby, the Harris County district attorney who prosecuted Thacker. "It brought all that back to me, how devastating it was for them." Prosecutors declined to release the contents of the notes, which never were in evidence in the case, except to say they were "expressions of emotion" that illustrated the children's sadness in the aftermath of their 26-year-old teacher's strangling during an attempted rape, according to Jack Roady, an assistant district attorney. Thacker, now 37, had a history of sexual assaults. At the time of the April 1993 attack on Crawford he'd been out of prison about eight months after serving less than 4 years of 2 12-year sentences for robbery and sexual assault. Thacker's lawyers were in the courts trying to get a reprieve so more sophisticated DNA tests not available at the time of his trial could be conducted on evidence. "Thacker has maintained his innocence throughout the process," Robin Norris, one of his attorneys, said while acknowledging Thacker's "fairly long history as a sexual predator." Another appeal challenged Texas execution procedures, contending prison authorities should ensure the condemned inmate is unconscious before the actual lethal drugs, which they argue are unconstitutionally painful, are administered. And a third appeal questioned whether Thacker's death sentence should be reconsidered in light of a new state law that took effect Sept. 1 that allows capital murder juries to consider life without parole for offenders they convict. "Texas has effectively abolished the death penalty for everybody except those people who can't be safely confined in prison," lawyer Richard Bourke said, referring to jury deliberations about whether a capital murder convict would be a future danger. Thacker, he said, "has never been a problem in prison." The Loraine County, Ohio, native was arrested in the hours after the attack on Crawford, who was dragged into a restroom near the central mailbox rack at her apartment complex. A passer-by who spotted a key dangling from Crawford's open mailbox prompted a search for her. Crawford's car with her dog inside wasn't far away. A maintenance worker found the woman's restroom nearby locked but was surprised to hear a male voice from inside. When the door burst open, the worker got a blast of pepper spray from the fleeing man, whom he later identified as Thacker. Other residents who chased the man as he ran into a wooded area also said it was Thacker. Crawford was found unconscious in the restroom. Police using tracking dogs found Thacker hiding in a yard. "I was there that night or could say I was near there in the back behind the apartments in a rich neighborhood of homes," Thacker said on a Web site where condemned inmates seek pen pals. "I was up to no good with two others guys looking for stuff to steal and sell." There was no evidence of others involved. Thacker's truck was found in the apartment complex parking lot, and witnesses reported seeing him loitering in the area before the attack. On his Web site, Thacker suggested Crawford accidentally died because of CPR efforts. At least 6 victims, ranging in age from 13 to 64, testified at his trial how he sexually assaulted them, or attempted to, including a Tomball woman abducted while she was picking up mail at her apartment complex. 2 more condemned Texas inmates are scheduled to die next week and another in December in the nation's busiest death chamber. At least 5 have execution dates for early next year. (source: KRIS TIV News) **************** END OF THE TRAIL----CAPTURED KILLER BACK HOME; Thompson will be under guard 'anywhere he goes,' police say Handcuffed from behind and in leg irons, condemned murderer Charles Victor Thompson was back in Harris County late Monday, 4 days after a brazen escape in which he managed to walk past at least 4 guards and out the doors of the Harris County Jail. Thompson, whose manhunt ended Sunday night outside a liquor store in Shreveport, La., arrived in Harris County Monday night. Officials said he will be returned to a facility in Harris County, but would not say which one. Wherever he is housed, officials said, he can expect 24-hour supervision. "If there's a security measure, he will be subjected to it," said Lt. John Martin, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Department. "He will be escorted anywhere he goes ... and if they put him in an attorney booth, he will not be left alone. We will have a deputy standing outside." Cindy Chadwick, a spokeswoman for the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office, said Thompson had been picked up by Harris County officials around 4:30 p.m. Thompson, who is described as "charming" by people who know him, had shown his ability to remain calm among law enforcement officials even before his escape. Leaving from the Caddo Correctional Center early Monday, the convicted killer of 2 flashed a smile at television cameras. Earlier in the day, Thompson waived his rights to be represented by a lawyer and to resist extradition. The 35-year-old Tomball resident faced state District Judge Ramona Emanuel about 11 a.m. in a videoconference from a holding cell at the Correctional Center. He wore a red jumpsuit, which indicates a high-risk prisoner, said Caddo Parish Assistant District Attorney Dhu Thompson, who is not related to the escaped killer. Waives rights When asked by Emanuel if he was Charles Victor Thompson and if he wanted a hearing to confirm his identity, Thompson replied, "I don't think that is in dispute. I'm not going to waste taxpayers' money in Louisiana. "I understand my rights," he told the judge. "I'm waiving counsel as well as extradition." Thompson told the judge that the last grade of school he had completed was the 11th and that he had earned a GED after dropping out. He said he can read and write and that he fully understood his rights. Thompson, under a death sentence for the 1998 murders of his ex-girlfriend Dennise Hayslip and her new boyfriend, Darren Cain, was awaiting transfer to death row last Thursday when he slipped away from the Harris County Jail at 1200 Baker. He had freed himself from handcuffs, slipped into street clothes and convinced jailers he was an investigator for the Texas Attorney General's office. A tip Sunday to the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force led Shreveport police and the U.S. Marshal's Service to the liquor store, where an intoxicated Thompson was found on a bicycle near a pay phone in front of the store. Sgt. Allen Johnson, an 18-year veteran of the Shreveport Police Department, said Thompson told officers, "I don't want to go back," as they arrested him. "But he seemed relieved as he sat on the curb waiting for processing after the arrest," Johnson said. Knew he was on TV show Sitting on the curb, Thompson told police he knew he had been featured on the TV program America's Most Wanted and asked who had phoned in the tip on his whereabouts, Johnson said. He said Thompson, wearing a blue denim shirt, looked tired and resigned to his fate. "He knew it was up," said Deputy Marshal Mickey Rellin, a member of the Western Louisiana Fugitive Task Force. Thompson's breath smelled of liquor and the sudden arrival of officers with their shotguns and handguns drawn likely was a sobering sight for him. "I would imagine he was drunker before we showed up," said Rellin. "We scared him." Inside Daiquiri Unlimited, a liquor store in a small strip shopping center on 70th Street in Shreveport's Cedar Grove area, one block off Interstate 49, Jebran Siddiqui was working at his family's business. The 18-year-old said he noticed Thompson stumbling around in the parking lot, talking loudly despite being alone. Siddiqui said he called 911 because he was afraid Thompson might come into the store and cause trouble. He said he grabbed a pistol and went to the front door to watch Thompson, but soon saw a man approach Thompson with a shotgun. Arrest goes down At that point, Siddiqui said, he thought the group was about to rob the store. He said he told his employees to go to the back, but the men in the parking lot then yelled to him, "Police! Police! Go back inside!" When Thompson saw the first officer approach with a shotgun, he began running away but soon gave up, Siddiqui said. "He looked like he wasn't going to put up a fight. It was like he was saying, 'Whatever. Do what you want.'" The internal investigation into how Thompson escaped continues, but officials said three people affiliated with anti-death penalty groups who had visited Thompson before his escape were not involved in it. Authorities are also trying to determine how he got to Shreveport, some 200 miles from Houston. ************************* INMATE'S CAPTURE----Lawyer recounts his visit to jail; A prisoner walked in during his meeting with Thompson A Houston lawyer who met with condemned killer Charles Victor Thompson before his escape last week said another inmate surprised him by walking into the unlocked visitor's booth minutes before. Houston attorney James Rytting also said that before leaving the second floor at the Harris County Jail facility at 1200 Baker, he told deputies that he was through with Thompson, who apparently was allowed to linger in the visiting room. Thompson later left the room without handcuffs and in civilian clothes. Thompson walked out of the Baker Street jail last Thursday after telling deputies he was with the Attorney General's Office and flashed an identification badge. The badge later was discovered to be his state prison ID, on which he had covered the word "offender." Thompson, who was convicted of the 1998 slayings of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, was recaptured Sunday night outside a liquor store in Shreveport, La. The 35-year-old Thompson, who had been sentenced to die the week before, was awaiting transfer back to Texas' death row in Huntsville when he escaped. Rytting's recollections Monday shed more light on security lapses that county officials said played a role in Thompson's escape. Rytting said he was waiting in the attorney-inmate visitation room when an unescorted inmate walked in on the other side of the glass. The inmate said he needed an attorney and asked Rytting for a business card, which the lawyer said he slid underneath the glass partitioning in the room. "He just popped in there," Rytting said of the inmate. "That door was open in there and people could go in." After getting the business card, the inmate left, the lawyer said. Lt. John Martin, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, confirmed that the door should have been locked. Martin said the first inmate could have been among those allowed to clean cells, distribute meals or handle laundry under a deputy's supervision. He did not say why the inmate was allowed to enter the visitor's booth without an escort. "The attorney booth should be locked where you can't enter without a deputy using a key to open it," Martin said. "We've been saying all along that was one of the procedures not followed." Rytting said someone, whom he did not notice, escorted Thompson into the small visitor's room. Martin said only deputies handle death row inmates. Rytting said Thompson had called his firm, Philip Hilder & Associates, and requested representation for an appeal of his death sentence. The meeting, Rytting said, was a "normal, standard and unexceptional attorney-client visit." He said Thompson was engaged in the legal issues of his case and did not appear anxious or distracted. Rytting said he ended up declining Thompson's request for representation. After the meeting, Rytting said, he left Thompson, walked over to the front desk and told the guards he was leaving and alerted them that Thompson was ready to be taken back to his cell. More than an hour passed before Thompson was reported missing. Sheriff's Office internal affairs investigators will press Thompson for details about his escape. Thompson returned to Houston Monday night. The death row inmate will be more closely monitored this time, Martin said. "If there's a security measure, he will be subjected to it," he said. "He will be escorted anywhere he goes ... and if they put him in an attorney booth, he will not be left alone. We will have a deputy standing outside." Several county jail employees have been questioned by investigators, including those who may have had only a slight brush with Thompson, Martin said. "We have already spoken with a number of employees and we still have several more to interview," Martin said. "We're interviewing every possible employee that may have possibly come in contact with him or been responsible for one of the many lapses we've been discussing." *********************** Some deputies may be punished in the escape Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas, who was recovering from eye surgery when a condemned killer escaped from the county jail, returned to work Monday and said some deputies may face disciplinary action. Charles Victor Thompson escaped from the 1200 Baker St. jail early Thursday afternoon and got past some deputies by flashing a state prison ID badge and saying he was an investigator. Those deputies and others are being questioned, Thomas said. "Certainly, there was negligence on our part," he said. "We are embarrassed by (the escape). But we are going to determine what happened and take corrective action." "We have policies, and if you violate them, you can be disciplined," he said. Thomas underwent surgery to repair a detached retina several days before Thompson's escape. "This is the 1st day I've been back," Thomas said. "I was confined to bed for several days. It was kind of frustrating - you can't be here and take part in what's taking place." Thomas relied on phone calls from subordinates to keep current on the search for the death row inmate, who was captured late Sunday outside a Shreveport, La., liquor store. Thomas said his efforts to participate fully in his office's investigation have been hampered by difficulty reading during his recovery. He drove himself to work Monday, the 1st time he's been behind the wheel since the surgery. It may be 2 months before vision in the affected eye returns to normal, he said. (source for all: Houston Chronicle) GEORGIA: LeJeune accepts plea deal in death penalty case An accused drug dealer on trial for a 1997 murder and decapitation pleaded guilty Tuesday in Fulton Superior Court. Michael LeJeune, 27, facing his 2nd trial for the murder of Ronnie Harris, 39, dodged the death penalty by agreeing to accept a life sentence without parole. The grisly case hit a snag Monday. Lead defense attorney Brian Steel asked to be removed from the case Monday after spending seven years on the case. Steel's reason: a conversation he had with accused killer Michael LeJeune over the weekend. Jurors were kept out of the courtroom as Steel told the judge and prosecutors that his conversation with LeJeune at the Fulton County Jail prevented him from continuing on the case. Steel did not elaborate because conversations between clients and their attorneys are supposed to be kept confidential unless both agree otherwise. Superior Court Judge Constance Russell allowed Steel to withdraw from the case. Steel's co-counsel, Bud Siemon, took over as lead attorney. This is the 2nd jury for LeJeune. His first trial was under way at the time of the unrelated March 11 courthouse shootings. The killings rattled some jurors, and LeJeune successfully urged Russell to grant a mistrial. LeJeune, an accused drug dealer, is charged with shooting Dunwoody resident Ronnie Davis, 39, and dismembering him in LeJeune's small Roswell Road apartment. The state's key witness, LeJeune's former girlfriend Kelly Anand, has testified that LeJeune kept the victim's head in a bucket of cement for days and took it back and forth from their Roswell apartment to his parents' lakeside home in Buford. The head has never been found. (source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution) **************** Court: Death row inmate entitled to new trial A death row inmate previously convicted for killing his estranged wife and his stepdaughter is entitled to a new trial because Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents withheld crucial information from his attorneys, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled. Justices unanimously ruled Monday that Willie Palmer's convictions and death sentence must be reversed. Palmer was convicted of killing Brenda Palmer and her daughter, Christine Jenkins, in 1995. "It is irrelevant that a police agency may have possessed the favorable evidence without the knowledge of the prosecutor; the law places the responsibility and ultimate burden on the prosecutor for the failure to provide the favorable evidence to the defendant," justices wrote in the opinion. In April, a state court judge also overturned Willie Palmer's murder conviction, saying the trial was corrupted by the concealment of a payment to a key prosecution witness. In the trial, witness Randy Waltower said he saw Willie Palmer's car near the murder scene on the night the 2 women were killed. Waltower was paid $500 for that information. Neither he nor the GBI revealed that detail in the trial. "Palmer does not have to show that he would have been acquitted if he had been able to impeach Waltower with his financial motive for testifying against him; he simply must show that the state's 'evidentiary suppression' undermines the confidence in the outcome of the trial," supreme court justices said. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Conviction leads to rare death-penalty phase Demetrius Fiorentino killed a man at a crack house. Only 3 people in Chesco have faced execution. After deliberating about 17 hours over three days, a Chester County Court jury yesterday convicted a Coatesville man of 1st-degree murder, triggering a rare death-penalty phase in his trial. Demetrius Fiorentino, 31, showed no reaction as the 6 men and 6 women found him guilty of most of the charges stemming from the April 15, 2004, slaying of 18-year-old Joel Taylor of Queens, N.Y. Several of Fiorentino's relatives began crying. After listening to reasons why Fiorentino should be executed, Theresa Winkey, a grandmother of one of Fiorentino's children, shook her head. "It's not fair. He doesn't deserve what they're doing to him," she said. Judge Phyllis R. Streitel told the jurors that they must weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors presented by both sides to determine whether Fiorentino should be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. Assistant District Attorney Lorraine B. Finnegan, whose presentation will continue today, urged the jury to consider Fiorentino's violent criminal history, which began with an armed robbery when he was 17. Zelia Taylor, the victim's mother, testified about the death's impact. "The day Joel died, a part of me died with him," she said, adding that her other 2 sons were also devastated. After the proceeding, she said she believed Fiorentino had decided his own fate. "The jury only took into account the evidence he provided," she said. "I'm praying for him and his family." Defense attorney Scott Godshall said he planned to offer a psychological evaluation that would detail Fiorentino's impairments at the time of the crime. However, Godshall added that the testimony would not be used to justify "inexcusable" conduct. During 8 days of dramatic and often contradictory testimony, witnesses, many of them drug addicts, said Taylor had been delivering cocaine to a Lumber Street crack house when Fiorentino and his codefendant, Sabin Suber, shot him during a robbery. Suber, 51, of Coatesville, was convicted Sept. 16 of second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy and related offenses. He faces at least a life term when sentenced. In the last 20 years, only three defendants have received the death penalty in Chester County, First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carmody said. All remain on death row. Dennis Miller was convicted of raping and stabbing his wife, Sherry, to death in her Chatham home in November 1995. Darrick Hall was sentenced to death for fatally shooting Donald R. Johnson, 59, in the head in December 1993 during a robbery at a Coatesville Laundromat. Robert B. Hughes was convicted of murdering Jean Reider, 41, of Newark, Del., and Charles P. Hegarty, 46, of West Chester, during a McDonald's restaurant robbery in 1989. (source: Philadelphia Inquirer) OHIO: Ohio jury recommends death penalty for murderer of Canadian student, 2 others A jury that convicted a man of killing his live-in girlfriend, her 7-year-old son and a university student from Canada recommended Tuesday that he get the death penalty. The actual sentence for James Trimble, 45, will be up to Judge John Enlow, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for Nov. 16. The judge can sentence Trimble to death or life in prison. Enlow said he will allow statements from the victims' families and friends to be heard then. The judge earlier imposed a gag order on lawyers in the case. Trimble appeared calm as the sentence was announced and jurors were asked to confirm their decision. As he was led from the courtroom by sheriff's deputies, Trimble pumped his right fist in the air, looked at his mother and said, "I love you, Mom." Prosecutors said Trimble killed the trio in a rampage that began over his girlfriend's threats to leave him. He was found guilty of three counts of aggravated murder Oct. 25. Trimble killed Renee Bauer, 42, and her son, Dakota, on Jan. 21 and then ran to the nearby home of Kent State University student Sarah Positano, 22, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Positano was held hostage in her apartment before she was shot in the neck the next morning. "I live with the fact I killed them," Trimble told the jury Monday. "Renee and Dakota loved me more than probably anyone in my life other than my mother. I destroyed their lives and futures. The pain to their families will never be healed." (source: Associated Press) ******************** Taft to delay Spirko execution Gov. Bob Taft will delay death-row inmate John Spirko's execution so that 23-year-old evidence can be tested for DNA. Spirko had been scheduled to die next Tuesday for the 1982 slaying of rural postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger. But on Monday, Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro requested a 60-day reprieve to allow time for the testing that Spirko's lawyers have been seeking. A Taft spokesman said the governor would grant the reprieve. A new execution date has not been set. Spirko's case has been dogged by questions about the quality of both the evidence and the investigation. Spirko claims he had nothing to do with the crime. Petro's office maintains Spirko was justly convicted. While the Ohio Parole Board has twice voted to recommend that Taft deny clemency, 3 dissenting members said there's too much doubt to execute Spirko. Mottinger was kidnapped from her Elgin, Ohio, post office in August 1982. Her body, stabbed more than a dozen times and wrapped in a paint-splattered shroud, was found 6 weeks later in a soybean field. Spirko's lawyers renewed their call for DNA testing last month after a former painter, who implicated his boss years ago in the crime, passed a polygraph test. Former painter John Willier has said he recognized the shroud as a dropcloth he and his boss, Dale Dingus, used while painting a house in Findlay the summer Mottinger was killed. Spirko's lawyers also want the paint from the cloth tested against the paint on the Findlay house. Dingus, now in a Louisiana prison for rape, has denied any involvement in the slaying. Petro told Spirko's lawyers in a letter that he is a proponent of DNA technology. Given the facts in the Spirko case, Petro said, he doesn't believe the testing will prove guilt or innocence, but wants to make test results available to Taft and others. Petro's skepticism about the results was echoed Monday by Edward Blake, a forensic scientist and national expert on DNA testing. In this case, Blake said, DNA testing sounds like "nothing more than a fishing expedition that has a very low chance of success." He said it's possible to extract DNA from biological samples 23 years after a crime. The question is whether those samples would be relevant. The key piece of physical evidence in this case - the shroud, or painting tarp - could contain biological material from someone completely unconnected to the crime, Blake said. But Spirko's lawyer, Alvin Dunn, said testing the shroud could yield important results. "If this reveals that it's got DNA evidence of persons who have no connection to John Spirko, we believe it really does indicate that John Spirko had nothing to do with this crime," he said. (source: Cleveland Plain Dealer) ************** Execution of Spirko put off for DNA tests---Attorneys for John G. Spirko Jr. say DNA evidence will clear him More than 23 years after her death, the tarp or shroud used to wrap Betty Jane Mottinger's body may yield clues to her killer. At the least, DNA testing - the cutting edge of modern forensics and the rage of television crime dramas - will extend the life of John G. Spirko Jr. at least another 60 days. Based on a request by Attorney General Jim Petro, Gov. Bob Taft yesterday afternoon agreed to postpone Spirko's execution - set for next Tuesday - to permit time to test the shroud, Mottinger's clothing and other materials. Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said the governor will communicate today with the Ohio Supreme Court about setting a new execution date. It is the latest twist in the most controversial murder case since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999 after a 36-year hiatus. Taft previously delayed Spirko's Sept. 15 execution by two months to allow for a 2nd clemency hearing. However, the Ohio Parole Board rejected Spirko's mercy plea a 2nd time by the identical 6-3 vote. His attorneys knew about the potential for DNA testing for a decade, but requested it for the 1st time last year. They were rejected. They now predict that DNA testing - which was not available when Mottinger was killed in 1982 - will show another man was the killer. Attorneys Thomas Hill and Alvin Dunn said recent evidence points to another possible suspect, Dale Dingus, a former house painter from the Van Wert area. The body was wrapped in what some reports describe as a painter's cloth. "This is what we've been asking for," Dunn said yesterday. "We believe there is biological evidence there - and it won't be John Spirko's." Mottinger, 48, the postmistress in tiny Elgin, in the northwestern part of the state, was abducted and killed on Aug. 9, 1982. Her wrapped body was found in a farm field 6 weeks later. Based largely on self-incriminating statements and knowledge of the crime, Spirko, now 59, was convicted and sentenced to death for Mottinger's murder. All county, state and federal courts have upheld the conviction. Although he agreed to the testing, Petro is convinced it will prove neither guilt nor innocence. "We don't think the DNA test will be dispositive, but it is one component that needs to be considered," Petro told The Dispatch. "We think it's not an illegitimate request. Anytime you have a circumstance in which the ultimate punishment is about to be imposed, you need to afford every opportunity to review the evidence." A letter Petro sent to Hill yesterday confirmed that the testing is under way at the state Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation in London. Other items to be tested include a scrap of fabric apparently torn from the shroud, duct tape that wrapped the body, a concrete block and fragments found around the body, and hair and blood samples. The results should be available in 30 to 60 days, Petro said. (source: Columbus Dispatch) VIRGINIA: Democrat Kaine Wins Virginia Governor's Race Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, won the race for governor in Virginia tonight, scoring a major political victory for his mentor, Gov. Mark Warner, and sending a powerful message that President Bush's political standing has fallen in this reliably Republican state. With 93 % of the ballots counted, Mr. Kaine had 52 % of the vote to 46 % for his Republican opponent, Jerry W. Kilgore, a former attorney general. An independent candidate, state Senator H. Russell Potts Jr., a Republican, had 2 %. The comeback victory by Mr. Kaine, who had trailed for much of the race, provided a big boost to Mr. Warner, who had anointed Mr. Kaine his successor and who is now considering running for president in 2008. The outgoing governor, who has approval ratings over 70 % in Virginia but was prohibited by state law from succeeding himself, is attempting to cast himself as a pragmatic, centrist Democrat who can win in the South, and Mr. Kaine's victory clearly burnished that image. Equally significant, Mr. Kaine's victory was a major blow to Mr. Bush, who campaigned for Mr. Kilgore on Monday night even though his own approval rating has dipped below 50 percent in Virginia. Mr. Kilgore's aides said Mr. Bush's appearance was crucial in driving up Republican turnout, but Democrats and political analysts said Mr. Bush's visit might have also energized as many or more Democrats and independent voters to come out for Mr. Kaine. Democrats are now likely to trumpet Mr. Kaine's victory as evidence that Mr. Bush has become a detriment to local and state Republican candidates in advance of next year's mid-term congressional elections. But Mr. Kilgore may have also hurt himself by running harshly negative advertisements attacking Mr. Kaine's positions on the death penalty, taxes and illegal immigration. According to some political analysts and polls, those ads alienated many independent voters. Mr. Kaine, 47, is a lawyer and former mayor of Richmond. His wife, Anne Holton, is a state juvenile court judge and the daughter of former Gov. Linwood Holton, a Republican, who campaigned for Mr. Kaine. It was difficult tonight to assess which candidate was hurt more by Mr. Potts. Many analysts had expected him to draw more votes from Mr. Kaine, who needed to win a large number of swing votes in this heavily Republican state. With clear skies and unusually warm weather, both camps reported good turnout in areas they needed to win: for Mr. Kaine, Norfolk, Richmond and the inner suburbs of Washington; for Mr. Kilgore, the northern suburbs, Richmond's suburbs, the rural southwest and the Virginia Beach area, with its concentration of military families. Mr. Kaine's camp called their voter turnout effort the largest for a Democrat in state history, saying they had mobilized 4,800 volunteers to make 600,000 phone calls and knock on 800,000 doors since Friday. The Kilgore camp declined to provide details on their mobilization effort, but claimed it was more extensive than Mr. Kaine's. While turning out core voters was crucial for both sides, it seemed particularly important for Mr. Kilgore, who had lost support among independent voters in recent weeks, polls showed. "It all comes down to turnout," Mr. Kilgore told reorters this morning. Mr. Bush's 11th-hour appearance was clearly intended to energize the loyal campaign workers who ran the Republicans' 72-hour operation, so called because it swung into motion on the final weekend of the race, to repeatedly urge casual as well as dedicated Republicans to vote for Mr. Kilgore. In a rousing speech to thousands of Republicans at the Richmond airport on Monday night, Mr. Bush praised Mr. Kilgore as a son of rural Virginia, a man who "doesn't have a lot of fancy airs" and who is a guardian of conservative values. "I hope you'll work hard tomorrow to call up your friends and neighbors," Mr. Bush said. "Tell them if they want good government - good, solid, sound conservative government - to put this good man in the governor's chair in Richmond." Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, said it was a "high risk" move for both Mr. Bush and Mr. Kilgore to have the president campaign in Virginia at a time when his approval rating was below 50 % and Mr. Kilgore's ability to win was in doubt. Mr. Bush's appearance, Mr. Rozell said, could have caused a "counter surge" of Democrats and "angry-at-Bush" independent voters. "My guess is Kilgore's people saw polling numbers moving against them and they saw a real need to mobilize core voters," Mr. Rozell said. Mr. Kaine's said they were pleased with Mr. Bush's entry into the race. "Can someone tell me where to send the thank you note?" said Mo Elleithee, Mr. Kaine's communications director. "The president fired up our base." But Tucker Martin, a spokesman for the Kilgore campaign, pointed out that the Kaine camp had Senator John Kerry write a letter to Democrats at the end of the campaign. "They ended up with John Kerry ... we ended up with the president," he said. "We got a better deal." This year's race remained intensely close for months in part because neither candidate established a dominant public persona or articulated a defining political theme to capture voters' imaginations. By contrast, the last three races for governor, all decided by large margins, focused heavily on single issues: George F. Allen, a Republican, hammered at high crime and pushed for ending parole in 1993; James S. Gilmore III, a Republican, pledged to end the unpopular car tax in 1997; and Mr. Warner said his business skills would help guide the state out of a budget crisis in 2001. Mr. Kilgore tried to make character and ideology central themes, portraying himself as a straight shooter who "doesn't need a poll to make up his mind" and attacking Mr. Kaine as "instinctively liberal." "In the final days, it comes down to trust," Mr. Kilgore told reporters this morning after he voted near his home in a Richmond suburb. "Virginians may not agree with me on every issue, but they will know where I stand." Mr. Kilgore's final ads of the campaign hammered home his pledges to increase school funding, oppose higher taxes and make road improvements, while attacking Mr. Kaine as a liberal who "talks out of both sides of his mouth" and raises taxes. Mr. Kaine attempted to build his campaign on the issues of managerial style and bipartisanship, asserting that Mr. Warner and he had - with Republican help - made state government more efficient and effective. But he also questioned Mr. Kilgore's honesty, and accused him of planning to outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court. Not surprisingly, the last 2 television commercials Mr. Kaine kept on the air on Election Day featured Mr. Warner. (source: New York Times)
