Oct. 18--RICHMOND -- With concerns about job losses and financial pressures ringing in their ears, the two men running to be Virginia's next governor are touting competing plans to create and protect jobs and revive the state's recession-battered economy.

Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds are promising tax credits to reward job creation, more spending on incentives to draw businesses to the state and greater focus on the economic needs of rural and distressed areas.

"The top claim on my time as governor will be job creation," McDonnell said Monday during a televised debate with Deeds.

Not to be outdone, Deeds said he wants "to create opportunity, prosperity and hope in every part of Virginia."

Virginia had the nation's fifth-lowest unemployment rate in August at 6.5 percent, well below the national average of 9.6 percent. Even though Virginia's unemployment rate has dropped since June, its August rate was more than 2 percentage points higher than it was in the same month last year. And parts of Southwest and Southside Virginia continue to struggle with double-digit unemployment rates in the aftermath of major layoffs

Despite its struggles, Virginia continues to get recognition as one of the nation's most business-friendly states. Just last month, Forbes.com put Virginia at the top of its "Best States for Business" for the fourth consecutive year, one of several such accolades the state has received for its business climate in recent years.

Both candidates said they would work to preserve that reputation while positioning the state to flourish as the economy rebounds.

McDonnell has won endorsements from an array of Virginia business groups, including the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia arm of the National Federation of Independent Business. He espouses the conservative principles of low taxes and limited regulation and said he would streamline permitting processes for small businesses, but he also has called for some government action to encourage growth.

McDonnell has said he would expand eligibility for the state's major business facility job tax credit, an incentive typically awarded to businesses that create at least 100 new jobs. McDonnell's plan would lower the threshold so that employers could get a $1,000 credit for each worker hired after creating 50 jobs, or after creating 25 jobs in economically distressed areas.

Deeds has proposed a state tax credit that would refund businesses for any increase in federal payroll taxes tied to creating new jobs or boosting wages.