I’d shrug off the anonymous carping from White House officials about the Creigh Deeds campaign, a classic distancing strategy from a failing campaign. If Deeds managed to pull it out, you’d hear these same “senior Administration officials” saying how putting up Obama ads did the trick and brought him to victory.

But if you want to actually know why Deeds is losing, check out this ad released by the Deeds campaign today, on the same day that the President gave a speech promoting climate legislation:

I know this was scheduled for SW Virginia, which is coal country. But in this day and age you cannot tell different messages to different parts of the country, let alone a state. And opposing “that cap-and-trade bill,” among the signature pieces of the Democratic agenda, is not exactly going to inspire the Democratic base. And if you lose the base, you lose an election.

The economic outlook right now was always going to be a problem for the party in power. But between this and Deeds talking about opting Virginia out of the public option, he’s inflicting all kinds of damage to himself. I don’t think many Democrats will shed a tear for his outcome.