VA GOP Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell looks pretty sharp for a man who helped torpedo his own campaign when he told the Washington Post where to find his master’s thesis from CBN University.

He’s in an interview with Washington Post reporters who are aggressively secular; view Christian social doctrine as bigoted, hateful and backward; voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama and believe the Virginia’s governor’s race is a referendum on Obama.

McDonnell’s a devout Christian, who attended a university founded by the Post’s favorite religious fanatic: Pat Robertson. His thesis is almost 100 pages and filled with conservative Christian beliefs perfect for taking out of context.

Even Michelle Obama had enough sense to try and restrict access to her master’s thesis until after the election and she’s only the candidate’s wife.

As far as the Post is concerned, VA Republicans are the gift that keeps on giving. First George Allen and now McDonnell. Here’s what McDonnell hath wrought: this area is filled with individuals and groups who oppose everything he stands for, but this opposition is not newsworthy because it’s so predicable.

Feminists, abortionists and homosexuals don’t like McDonnell. Ho Hum.

But Bob’s decision to play librarian gives the Post an excuse to gin up a “controversy” and repeatedly showcase these opinions as if they were newsworthy by using a campaign development from 20 years ago! It’s a win–win: the Post gets to relive the Allen–Webb campaign and clichéd liberals get to recycle their failed ideology.

What the McDonnell campaign should have done was by putting his views into context for today and recruit a group of third–party spokespersons. Or if they were convinced the thesis was coming out regardless, then McDonnell should have released it during the hotly–contested DEMOCRATIC primary campaign.

What you don’t do is hand the enemy a bullet and then act surprised when you get shot.

They tell a story about Huey Long running for governor of Louisiana. He’s giving a populist stem-winder in Baton Rouge and then later in the week he’s campaigning in more conservative Shreveport. There Huey takes a position that’s completely opposite.

Everything’s fine, except for a traveling salesman who heard Huey in each location. So the salesman demands an immediate explanation.

Huey looks at the salesman and says, “Well, I was lying in Baton Rouge.”

Which is a better response than what McDonnell is using now.

Bob spends 90 minutes on the phone with the death panel at the Post saying his views have changed. He’s not one of those scary Republicans because he’s agreed with Tim Kaine and Obama; and some of his best friends are interior decorators.

Great. Now McDonnell looks weak, uncertain and wishy-washy.

If McDonnell runs his race on the agenda set by the Post he will lose. If he lets the Post decide which issue positions are allowed, he will lose. You don’t have to have all the votes to win an election; you just need enough to win.

Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic, entertaining and funny keynote speaker for corporate, non–profit and governmental organizations.