Hatchet Reporter Kara Dunford wrote this report.

Days before he is set to speak at the GW College Republican’s kickoff event, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Robert McDonnell’s 20-year-old graduate thesis sparked a controversy in the race to Richmond last weekend.

News of the thesis, entitled “The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade,” was first reported on Sunday by The Washington Post.  The thesis offers deeply conservative views on women in the workplace, homosexuals and religion in schools.

The CRs host McDonnell tomorrow night, but Communications Director Andrew Clark said he does not believe the news of the thesis will impact McDonnell’s appearance.

“[McDonnell] will be speaking to an audience of largely college students who understand that views are constantly changing and evolving.  We wouldn’t want something we say or write now to impact us in a race twenty, thirty or forty years in the future.”

Clark, who is also a Hatchet columnist pointed out it is not uncommon for views to change, citing a senior thesis Hillary Clinton wrote while she was a student at Wellesley College.

McDonnell fought back against the news of the thesis on Sunday night, saying his views have changed since his graduate school days.

Clark added he does not think the news of the thesis will be detrimental to McDonnell’s campaign, but rather believes it may have a positive outcome for McDonnell.

“I think it will actually help McDonnell,” he said. “In his campaign, he has focused on jobs and economic growth, something Virginians want to hear about.  It is Creigh Deeds who continues to bring up social issues, in an attempt to hide behind his weak position on jobs and economic issues, the critical issues of this campaign.”