Polls: Deeds opens up big lead

Maybe it won’t be close after all.

Public Policy Polling has state Sen. Creigh Deeds opening up a 14-point lead in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Virginia governor.

This is the man who, much less than a month ago, was in third place, trailing significantly. Now it appears former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe and former state Del. Brian Moran have bloodied each other sufficiently and let the other guy take control.

Recent polling has shown the race almost a dead heat. But in the new poll, Deeds is at 40 percent, while McAuliffe is at 26 and Moran is at 24.

We will start seeing other last-minute polls in the coming hours. Perhaps at that point, we’ll be able to declare Deeds the odds-on favorite.

Update 12:31 p.m.: Consider it declared. SurveyUSA has Deeds leading McAuliffe 42-30. Moran is at 21 percent.