You’d think the economy and jobs would top the list of issues in a gubernatorial campaign in a state like Virginia. However, most of the focus there has been on women’s issues, thank to a 20-year-old master’s thesis written by one candidate and his opponent’s desire to keep it in the forefront of the campaign. Republican Bob McDonnell, the writer of the thesis, holds a 10-point lead over his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds just 12 days before the election.

Last night, WORLD Washington Bureau reporter Emily Belz covered an event where some of the most powerful women in Northern Virginia gathered to support McDonnell’s run for governor:

Northern Virginia holds many coveted votes for McDonnell, including a hefty portion of independent to liberal voters who reside there.

Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and part-owner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, has given millions to Democratic candidates in the past, including Barack Obama and current Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. But she endorsed McDonnell at the end of July—before the thesis came to light.

Still she stumps for him, joining McDonnell’s daughters Wednesday evening to speak to a ballroom full of powerful Washington suburban women, including Susan Allen, wife of former Virginia Gov. George Allen, and Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr. First thing she told the women to do is kick off their high-heel shoes—which Maureen McDonnell did promptly, standing in her bare feet alongside her two daughters.

“I, as Shelia Johnson, would not have come out and endorsed Bob McDonnell if I sat and believed what the press was saying about him and how he treated women,” she said, adding she admires McDonnell’s “moral compass” and he is “the smartest person I have met in a long time.”

Read Emily’s report in its entirety here.