As President Obama and Tim Kaine turn their backs on Democrat Creigh Deeds to focus on minimizing the losses next year, poll after poll show they are right. Deeds ship is sinking, and fast.

The latest poll to confirm the growing lead for Republican Bob McDonnell comes to us from the Washington Post.

Republican Robert F. McDonnell has taken a commanding lead over R. Creigh Deeds in the race for governor of Virginia, as momentum the Democrat had built with an attack on his opponent’s conservative social views has dissipated, according to a new Washington Post poll.

McDonnell leads 53 to 44 percent among likely voters, expanding on the four-point lead he held in mid-September. Deeds’s advantage with female voters has all but disappeared and McDonnell has grown his already wide margin among independents. Deeds, a state senator from western Virginia, is widely seen by voters as running a negative campaign, a finding that might indicate his aggressive efforts to exploit McDonnell’s 20-year-old graduate thesis are turning voters away.