Filed under: Congress, Domestic Policy, Election 2008, Local Government and Politics
Due to a flurry of searches regarding Suzanne Curran’s appearance on Fox News to promote American Solutions’ “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition, I’m placing a like up top here. Click here to sign now.
I’ll post video or a transcript if it makes its way to the web.
UPDATE:
Here it is.
Filed under: Election 2008, Election 2009, General Assembly, Local Government and Politics, Local Press, Morning Round-Up, State Government and Politics
stories you should know about:
-Garren Shipley speculates what the possible selection of Time Kaine for VP could mean for the General Assembly and Election 2009. My speculation: this is fun, but right now I’m at 55% confidence that Kaine won’t be picked.
-Karen Spillman, who was recently hired as Strasburg High’s new principal, apparently has a bit of a history with the media…..and not particularly a good one.
-Bob Goodlatte will be hosting a Veteran’s Fair at the Weyer’s Cave Community center on August 12th from 10 A.M. to 12 P.M. Veterans can get helping enrolling in benefits and learn more about about area VA Programs.
-Just a little bit to the North, but The Winchester Star is reporting that we may be looking at a great peach season this year. Note: In the 2002 census of agriculture for Shenandoah County, fruit made up nearly 48% of cash receipts for crops.
-Also just a bit away, The Winchester Star takes a look at Star Tannery’s fire company and their annual parade. They mention cancellations in Toms Brook and Conicsville, but I believe they mean Toms Brook and Strasburg (and I believe Mt. Jackson as well).
Filed under: Uncategorized
Readers, family, friends, and anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot when I’m talking politics can tell you that one of my great loves is political history, particularly as it relates to Virginia politics in the last half-century. It’s an odd phenomena…… political stories grip the nation when they occur. During some of the coverage of this past race there’s been a peppering of references to elections past. But they often seem like a bit of an afterthought and sometimes a bit tacked on. Besides, every election occurs with its own personalities, issues, and circumstances. To try to say “This is 1976 all over again” can often be not just lazy journalism but lazy history as well. Elections are re-runs; American politics is one continuous story arc. I try to live by the maxim that all past is prologue, be it in teaching people about Belle Grove or in politics.
I visited the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley not too long ago. They have a very nice display up there and a number of very engaging exhibits. Yet there was not one mention that I could find of Harry F. Byrd and his machine, both in politics and business, that dominated Virginia and the Valley for over half a century. And again, it can be boring for many. People visit Belle Grove to hear about the Battle of Cedar Creek. But Civil Wars just don’t happen, and boys from parts of the south that are separated not just physicially but economically and culturally didn’t fight for the same reasons. But that’s for someone’s thesis.
Rather than continue to prattle on about what I don’t like in the presentation of political history, I present you with two interesting articles:
-The first is a Roanoke Times sit-down with former Governor Linwood Holton, who in 1969 broke roughly a century of Democratic rule (not counting a run of Readjuster Governors). A progressive Republican, Holton has often been at odds with the party since, most recently in 2004 when he joined with other former Republican officeholders to decry the Republican Party platform. I can’t wait to get a copy of his memoir.
-The second gives me pause with the title I chose for this post, since John Warner isn’t really off the scene yet (I get probably 6-8 editorials or blog posts each day in my Google Alerts regarding his recent comments advocating a 55 MPH speed limit nationwide), but this is still the first election for Virginia’s Class II Senator in over a quarter century in which Warner’s name won’t be on the ballot. If you can stomach talk of emissions control legislation, read this Style Weekly profile for a neat glimpse into Warner’s past.
Fun fact: Warner and Holton actually ran against each other in 1978 for the Republican Senate nomination. If I remember correctly, Warner came in second and Holton came in third in one of the largest conventions in Virginia political history: well over 10,000 people ATTENDED (not registered to attend).
Filed under: Uncategorized
Three stories you should know about:
-Virginia is having its third annual sales tax holiday for back-to-school items. These things are alright, but they really tend to get in the way of meaningful tax reform. But I’ve always been a firm believer in taking what you can get, be it food, love, or tax breaks.
-The State Water Control Board is considering measures to protect the state’s burgeoning aquaculture industry. Virginia’s oysters are said to have rejoiced at the news.
-Jamestown has experienced a dip in visitation, and a big one at that: From 35,000 last July to 18,000 this year. Please people, as someone in the historic tourism industry, I beg of you: re-discover Virginia’s abundant historic resources. If you don’t, you may just have to suffer through even more of my blogging, as I’ll have more time on my hands.
Filed under: Congress, Domestic Policy, Election 2008, Local Government and Politics, POTUS, State Government and Politics, Strategy and Tactics
Five stories you should know about:
-Strasburg High School has a new principal: Karen Spillman.
-Tim Kaine is apparently very high on Obama’s veep list. Word is Kaine is in Washington today to meet with Obama, and all of Obama’s advisors are in town as well. We’re on Veep Watch Orange here, people! UPDATE: Larry Sabato has examined the pros and cons (and trust me, this could be a Democratic nightmare in terms of state politics) of a Kaine selection. This feels like the NFL draft!
-The Republican Assembly is circulating a petition in Congress simply asking members if they will vote for increased domestic oil production. Bob Goodlatte has signed. Note which party label dominates the list……
-The 4th District Court of Appeals is going to re-hear the case on Virginia’s Partial Birth Abortion Ban.
-Bob Goodlatte opened up his Roanoke headquarters yesterday. Standard article, but it contained this amusing anectdote:
Rasoul spent the evening canvassing the swanky Hunting Hills neighborhood located just up the road from the Republican event. His campaign staffers and volunteers also handed out ice pops.
It’s always nice to see a candidate who’s willing to do anything to win, but it’s a strategy that can backfire if you look like your you’re…..well…..not quite cut out for the job. But heck, even I wore a sandwhich board to gin up votes when I ran for Student Council Vice President in the Sixth Grade.
In the Sixth Grade.
For better or worse, there’s a great deal of debate on the ethics of running campaigns. Unfortunately, there are some people out there who are willing to tell outright lies to help their candidate win. Other things are more debatable: some people find robo-calls a bit dishonest and a little bit of a cheat, while others see a great deal of efficacy in using the technique.
However, the clearest line comes in voter registration programs. Most campaign strategies of the last decade have relied heavily on registering new voters. However, registering voters is heavily regulated by law, laws which vary state by state. In Virginia, once a Voter Registration form is handed to you, you have an obligation to turn in that form to the Registrar, even if the individual clearly tells you they are a Democrat. Voting is a sacred right in this country, and if you’re going to help individuals do it in a setting such as a fair or festival, you have to follow your obligation to the law. As someone who helped run registration and absentee ballot operations for the College Republicans at UVA in 2004, I can tell you that the smallest discrepancy will yield a call from the local registrar.
With all of the excitement surrounding the election, groups are paying individuals to canvass. However, there’s a great deal of pressure with this approach, and it can often lead to trouble, particularly when the law is not clearly explained to canvassers. Youthful exuberance can lead to mistakes, which cannot be afforded when doing something as sensitive as voter registration. If I could do it over again, I’m not sure I would have taken on the task of registering voters in 2004 in an environment such as UVA, where students are from all over the country.
More troubling, however, is when someone who is already registered again. Either someone was trying to meet their quota and foolishly took names out of the phone book, or this was a serious attempt at identity fraud. Fortunately, the RPV is paying close attention to events all across the state.
Virginia GOP Chairman calls for criminal investigation into mounting evidence of coordinated voter fraud activities
Richmond, Virginia (July 28, 2008) – Delegate Jeff Frederick, Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, this morning called on Governor Kaine and Attorney General McDonnell to open a thorough and rigorous investigation into what appears to be coordinated and widespread voter fraud activities occurring throughout Virginia.Frederick’s request is in response to a report last week of three individuals in Hampton, Virginia being arrested and charged with voter registration fraud, a Class 5 Felony, as well as reports of fraudulent voter registration forms in Richmond. According to a signed affidavit, a Richmond voter had a fraudulent new registration card submitted to the local registrar. When the victim was notified on Thursday afternoon, the registrar informed her that there were other similar applications submitted in Richmond. (see affidavit)
The individuals in Hampton worked for Community Voters Project – a 3rd party group with ties to Fund for Public Interest and the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). PIRG, which seems to be a front group for a number of left wing causes, has a documented history of attempting to add fraudulent, phony or duplicative names to the voter registries across the nation.
“It seems nearly every day, I read or hear of some news report about how many new people are being registered to vote in Virginia in anticipation of the Presidential race this year. Getting more citizens involved in the process is great – that’s what democracy is all about. Yet, nothing undermines democracy more than poisoning the process and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections,” said Frederick.
“This is a very serious and troubling trend that we are seeing in Virginia,” he added. “Laws are being broken and Virginians have to wonder if there is a deliberate effort underway to corrupt and affect the outcome of November’s elections. I urge the Governor and Attorney General to take immediate action to investigate these matters.”
Even more troubling, Frederick said, was the opportunity for identity theft when citizens register to vote with these groups, as people must give a correct social security number on the voter registration form.
“People must exercise extreme caution when putting their private information into the hands of a stranger, for obvious reasons. I encourage voters to contact their local registrars and the major credit bureaus to verify that their voter and financial information has not been tampered with.”
Following my post on energy, Suzanne Curran has pointed me towards a speech that Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican, gave on Saturday. In the speech, he slams his colleagues for inaction on this issue, accusing them of putting political positioning over making tough choices that will deeply affect the lives of the present and future generations of Americans. His two major issues are the mortgage bailout and energy, but the point remains. The full text is here, but here’s some key snippets:
So here we go, we are saying we are fixing the problem, but we are working on it only when it is in crisis. Then, when we have the political momentum to do what is right and fix the long term and the short term, what do we do? We run because we are more interested in our political futures, in our political careers than we are the opportunities and potential employment opportunities and lifestyles for our children and grandchildren.
Just as my colleagues have been talking about energy, the Senator from Tennessee very well knows that the time to address the problems we are talking about right now in terms of more production was 15 years ago. Now the Senate sits stuck because we are worried about the political fallout of perhaps having amendments to drill where the oil is and that might not fit one political party’s agenda.
But I will tell you what, it fits the American people’s agenda. So we have this debate and this division that is becoming partisan. It is all on the basis of how do we look good in November. I want to tell you, none of us look good to the American people, because we are not fixing the problems on a timely basis. We are not allowing the historical precedents of this body, which is debate and amendments, to mold and create legislation that adequately reflects the risks and problems that future generations are going to encounter.
……
This year, American taxpayers sent $700 billion of their money–a large portion of it–to countries that would like to see us done in. We are going to continue to do that until such time as we have a cogent energy policy, regardless of global warming or carbon problems. It is at least going to take 30 years. So we ought to take that out of the realm and say: How do we quit giving away our fortune, our future, and our assets to other people? Even if we all agreed on global warming, we can all agree it will take a long time to transition away from carbon-based fuels. Why would we not have a debate on every possible way in which we can find more American energy, American resources, American security, and use less foreign resources?
I noted on the floor on Monday that our national security is at extreme risk today. There is a historical precedent. When the Egyptians took over the Suez Canal, the British and French had a great amount of debt. We owned most of it. We were adamantly opposed to them attacking Egypt to bring back the Suez Canal under their control. We didn’t fire the first shot against the French and English. Do you know what we told them? We said: If you do this, we are going to put your debt onto the market. We will wreck your economy. We will create inflation and create a decreased standard of living. So you dare not do this. Do you know what. They knew it would happen and that we would do that. Consequently, a war was averted.
Think now, with China owning a trillion dollars of our debt, and another trillion dollars in the Middle East. What happens if they don’t like our foreign policy and they decide to dump our debt onto the market? How much national security do we have?
…..
So the idea that we would not utilize every potential resource America has to solve this energy crisis, the fact we will not be allowed and are not allowed to have a true debate with true amendments that bring that forth to the American public, says we are highly dysfunctional, and that it is all about the next election, and it is never about the good and long-term interests of the country.
That has to stop in this body. It has to stop. It doesn’t matter if it is a Democrat or a Republican. It has to stop for future generations of this country. We need to quit worrying about whether we get reelected and start working on what is in the best long-term interests of this country.
………
So we are going to have $11 billion on the floor sometime next week, and we are going to talk about subhuman primate transfer and the War of 1812 Commission, but we are not going to work to solve the energy problems of the people in this country. We are going to talk about doing things the CDC and the NIH already have the power to do, but it doesn’t look good because we cannot have a press release or press conference and say we didn’t do something for a lobbyist’s special interest.
We are not going to create nuclear generation or go after the oil shale, and we are not going to go off the coast to find, in an environmentally friendly way, resources that will lessen that $700 billion of our Treasury we ship out of the country every year. Instead, we are going to do things that politically look good. If you oppose them, you might politically look bad. But we are not going to address the real issues in front of the country, as a whole. It is an amazement to me that when the figures were released, they reflected 9 percent of the people have confidence in the Senate. I wonder where those people are. If they are paying attention to this place, they could not have any confidence in it, because we are not addressing the real issues that are, in fact, impacting America today, American families today but, more importantly, national security today and tomorrow, and the wealth, health, and well-being of future generations.
Coburn is exactly the sort of conservative who will get this party moving again. Although he has suffered his share of controversy for his conservative social views in the past, he has moved beyond that and become a real leader on fiscal issues in the Senate. Coburn is also a man of integrity, being one of just a handful of Representatives who kept to their promise to keep their own term limits. Oklahoma rewarded him with a Senate seat; now, the conservative movement is beginning to notice him, and talk of veep or even Coburn ‘12 or ‘16 isn’t too far fetched…..
Very, very light newsday. So light, in fact, we don’t have a single only have one county story. Still, here’s five six stories you should know about:
-We’ll be seeing plenty more of these, but Marsha Mercer sees a repeat of 1996 in this year’s campaign.
-Christopher Beam writes about some new swing groups that may be emerging in this year’s election.
-The Commonwealth is 29th in the nation when it comes to volunteerism. The ranking is based on the number of residents over 16 who say they regularly volunteer.
-Absentee ballots cast by people who don’t live until Election Day will now be counted in Virginia. Apparently this HAS happened before.
-Neil Simon writes that McCain may have a chance with connecting to voters in Northern Virginia. Although some write it off as a Democratic stronghold, one must only remember the names of Ken Cucinelli and Bob Marshall to know that conservative Republicans can still win in Northern Virginia–it’s all about messaging and priorities.
UPDATE:
-The Northern Virginia Daily now has coverage up of the Sixth District Retreat Luncheon.
Filed under: Congress, Domestic Policy, Election 2008, State Government and Politics
It seems that both the U.S. Senate race and the Congressional race are quickly beginning to revolve around issues of America’s energy policy. Here’s a round-up of articles related to energy in Virginia and the Nation. But first, I encourage you to sign American Solutions’ petition calling on Congress to act through a policy of “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.” Local Republican Activist is pushing hard on this issue, not just locally but nationwide.
Onto the Round-Up:
-The Wall Street Journal reveals that Pittsylvania County apparently contains one of the largest unmined deposits of uranium in the country. Yet Virginia is one of just four states to ban Uranium mining (though it does allow the operation of plants and enrichment of Uranium). Mining is apparently the safest step in the nuclear fuel cycle. Expect a great deal of debate over reversing the ban during the next General Assembly session.
-Meanwhile, in Southwestern Virginia environmentalists are fighting the building of a new coal powered plant. The new generation of coal plants has great potential to help with the energy crisis (combined with other methods), but environmentalists continue to obstruct a plan that has a great deal of potential for this economically distressed region.
-In Washington, Congressman Goodlatte is fighting with others to force the Democrats to at the very least take a vote on a viable plan for energy, something they seem to be lacking these days:
Unfortunately, the Majority in Congress has failed to bring any legislation to the floor that would increase domestic energy production, and lower energy prices. Instead they have proposed placing restrictions on the marketplace which has the opposite effect of what is needed. Last week, I was pleased to join with over 100 Members of Congress in introducing comprehensive legislation which will increase the supply of American-made energy, expand and encourage the use of renewable and alternative American fuels, fund research and development of new and innovative energy technologies, and increase energy efficiency and conservation to reduce consumption and protect our environment.
The American Energy Act modernizes the nation’s energy policy by tapping into more of our massive energy resources located in the deep seas on the outer-continental shelf (OCS). This important resource could provide an additional 3 million barrels of oil per day and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Additionally, it would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR, to energy exploration, which could provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next 30 years. The legislation also encourages construction of new oil refineries by reducing the bureaucratic red tape that currently exists and has prevented the construction of a new refinery since the late 1970s.
Additionally, the American Energy Act improves energy conservation and efficiency by providing tax incentives for businesses and families that purchase more fuel efficient vehicles and providing tax incentives for businesses and homeowners who improve their energy efficiency. The legislation provides a monetary prize for development of an affordable, fuel efficient vehicle which can reach 100 miles-per-gallon.
Finally, the American Energy Act promotes alternative and renewable energy technologies by permanently extending the tax credit for alternative energy production such as wind, solar and hydrogen. This important legislation also establishes a renewable energy trust fund using the revenues generated from exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf and ANWR and encourages the production of more nuclear power which provides greenhouse gas emission-free energy.
-Finally, Spank that Donkey! defends Governor Gilmore on his energy policy.
Amazingly enough the Mark Warner for Senate campaign can not admit their fact check on drilling for oil and natural gas in and/or ANWR and off shore the Continental USA has been completely been debunked!
Governor Gilmore called all of their tripe on the subject baloney, and they ridiculed him in their supposed ‘fact check’, only to have reality slap them in the face with when President Bush lifted the Presidential moratorium on drilling off shore. Since that time oil has dropped:
Filed under: Congress, Election 2008, Local Government and Politics, MSM, Party Politics
With just four weeks left until back to back National Conventions and the promise of news cycles dominated by the Olympics from the 8th through the 24th (along with a short Obama vacation stuck in there), the world of punditry (yours truly included, although if I fall in anywhere in the ranks of pundits its somewhere in the farm leagues) has become infatuated with the relative non-story of the veepstakes.
I know all the arguments about veeps. Geographical balance, ideological support, diminishing the candidate’s weaknesses. All these will be factors in the decision of who to choose to balance out the ticket on both sides. Still, history is filled with examples where the veep failed to deliver on expectations. In 2004, Senator John Kerry failed to pick up any southern states with the addition of John Edwards to the ticket, as Republicans were able to successfully mitigate that advantage by sharply contrasting Edwards’ geographic origin with his actual voting record. Al Gore’s selection of “conservative” Democrat Joe Lieberman (seen at the time as such mostly for his stands against the entertainment industry and his hawkish stand on Israel) seemed to have had less to do with the closeness of the election than the late breaking revelation of a Bush DUI in the last few hours leading up to the election. Geraldine Ferraro did very little to affect the blow-out of 1984, and if anything actually hurt Mondale through her husband’s fiscal woes. On the other side of the aisle, Dan Quayle seemed to do little to ignite the youth vote in Bush’s favor (and perhaps ended up being a net drag on the ticket), and in 1964 Barry Goldwater’s choice of Bill Miller did little to shore up his problems, well, everywhere, as though Miller was from New York he wasn’t seen as moderate enough to balance out the ticket. Spiro Agnew in 1968 presented similar problems, as he failed to carry Maryland, proved a continuing embarassment in the media, and ultimately provided an initial disgrace to the Nixon administration when he was convicted on crimes related to goings-on in his gubernatorial administration (Side note: It seems rather inconceivable in this day of bare-knuckle campaigning, with a multitude of ways to both discover and broadcast such a scandal and everyone looking, from campaign chiefs to school teachers with blogs, that a Vice-President could survive an entire term with such a scandal hanging over their heads).
Those are only the political considerations of choosing the vice-president, however. The Vice-Presidency is far more important than it was at the beginning of the nation, but just how important a particular vice-president is has been rather variable. While Dick Cheney’s influence has been undeniable, the general pattern has been to give the Vice-President some intriguing but not overly important project to work on so that they have some level of experience and knowledge of the full power of the executive branch. This trend was mostly a response to Harry Truman suddenly being thrust into the role of commander in chief following Franklin Roosevelt’s sudden passing in the closing days of World War Two. For the most part, however, the role of the Vice-President remains to attend the funerals of less important world figures and to…..well, not to be morbid…….but to wait.
The Vice-Presidency, though, isn’t even all that great of a prize for promising politicos. In the modern era of the Presidency (roughly 1932 to present), there have been plenty of veeps cum presidents. However, only George H.W. Bush was elected to succeed the president they served under, and he managed to only serve one term, indicating that perhaps the veep position is not the best training ground for executive success. Truman and Johnson, who were elected to their own terms, failed to secure their own second terms (which they were entitled to pursue given that they were elevated past the half-way point). Ford failed to secure his own term (although he did run an incredibly close race given the amazing odds he faced). Nixon had to undergo a bit of a political refurbishing before he won the nomination, and many pundits believe that had more to do with his relentless work on behalf of the party rather than his Vice-Presidential experience. Al Gore maintains an air of hope, but he seems dead-set on Obama win, and given that he’ll be 68 in 2016 (the next shot if Obama wins and wins again) and the Democrats have never been ones to give someone the nod because its “their turn,” he seems consigned to the dust-bin of failed veeps.
Still, despite the fact that the Vice-Presidency will likely be of limited import in a race with such sharp contrasts between the two major candidates, these conversations are always fun and important for a number of reasons. They allow the victor to reach out to supporters of his vanquished foes. This has been particularly important for John McCain. Huckabee and Guliani seem to be out because they both have gigs (Fox News for the Huckster and a repeat of the Nixon strategy of becoming Mr. Republican for Rudy!) and because they would create major havoc for McCain with flanks of the party he already has some weakness with (SoCos for Rudy! and fiscal cons for the Huckster). The one candidate benefiting from this strategy right now is Romney, who paid down his personal debt to bolster his chances. Romney is also just young enough that he could be a logical successor to McCain in ‘12 or ‘16. On the Democratic side, Hillary is clearly benefiting from this.
It’s also a good way to find out which factions of the party are throwing around the most weight these days. In 1996 and 2000, Alan Keyes and abortion foes threatened to walk from the party if someone like, say, Tom Ridge (who is pro-choice) was given the nod. McCain’s record on life is good enough, but I feel he would still suffer if he attempted to pull out Ridge (and he’s indicated as such to his closest advisors). One potential candidate benfiting from this right now is South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who is good on both fiscal and social issues (although he is being discussed less given that he holds the dubious distinction of being one of Time’s Worst Governors). It’s probably also the reason we hear names like Bill Richardson and Evan Bayh, who hail from the more moderate Clintonian wing of the Democratic Party (which is causing a bit of heartburn amongst Obama’s faithful progressive acolytes).
Finally, it’s also a great time for both future candidates and their supporters to get their name back in the press. This phenomena has very little to do with keeping the name in the heads of the voters–with literally thousands of elected officials across the country, most people are lucky to know the name of their own Governor, much less that of Rhode Island (Don Carcieri). This is more for the benefit of the chattering class and activists, trying to place these people into consideration for statewide office (in the case of Congressman) or possibly cabinet slots or the presidency itself. This is probably part of the reason for the groundswell of support for such potential candidates as Eric Cantor (a possible candidate for Minority Leader, and hoping we take back the House soon enough, Speaker), Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal (already being talked about for ‘12), and former Ohio Representative Rob Portman (Governor of Ohio). For the Democrats this isn’t quite as apparent, as Obama seems to be the second coming in of itself. But as a stretch, I would say Claire McCaskill could be a potential national leader at some point.
And then there’s a final category that’s a bit more dubious. It’s the group of people that are mentioned because, well, it’s tradition. They’re politicos who could have had a shot at the Presidency but for some reason or another were denied that shot. This phenomena is not unique to the veepstakes; it happens in the Presidential race too…..sometimes, much to the candidate’s chagrin. Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating didn’t jump on his mention this past time (although, frankly, I was just about to jump on his bandwagon, given his courageous leadership after the OKC bombing in 1995). Tommy Thompson and Jim Gilmore failed to make a splash and, if I had to guess, were probably victims of the “next step” being pulled away by no fault of their own. But back to the veepstakes: Tom Ridge is a perennial Republican mention (another good leader taken out of consideration due to the fact that he’s unacceptable to a major faction), and on the Democratic side there’s Bob Kerrey (who could probably beat back the scandal relating to his service in Vietnam) and Sam Nunn (who was first mentioned in the late 80’s but is considered unpalatable to the liberal wing of the Democrats for his role in Don’t Ask Don’t Tell).
At any rate, it’s always a fun game. And this year, it’s extended to Virginia: Cantor on the Republican side, Kaine for the Democrats. Of the two, there’s probably alot more to Kaine, as he provides much needed Executive gravitas to Obama’s campaign. Cantor is just not well-known enough, although he would definitely provide a great deal of cover for McCain on the right and would probably help the margin of victory in the 7th District (not statewide). Kaine, however, has serious problems in state: he failed miserably during the special session, with every House Democrat voting against his plan, and he’s angered the progressive bloggers for siding with Gerry Conolly in the 11th District Democratic House primary.
Still, the news continues to role in. Kaine’s introductory video that was shown at the Democratic state convention can be seen across the Progressive blogosphere, and the nod of Terry McAullife can never hurt. However, Kaine suffered a major blow today in the form of an editorial from Richmond Times Dispatch columist Jeff Schapiro, a prominent face around the statehouse. He slams Kaine’s credentials and notes that departures have rarely been a good thing for either of Virginia’s parties. It should also be pointed out that Doug Wilder suffered alot of push-back when he attempted to leave the Governor’s mansion early to cash in on his prominence as Virginia’s first black governor. Additionally, Senator George Allen faced alot of criticism for preparing for a potential ‘08 bid, which only compounded his problems in 2006, as Democrats were able to plant doubts about his commitment to serving Virginia. Anectdotal (and I always warn politicos to avoid relying too heavily on anectdotes versus polling data), but intriguing nevertheless.
Cantor’s luck seems to be moving in the opposite direction: his boosting by fellow Congressman Virgil Goode continues to get raves, including in the Washington Post, and in a National Journal poll of Congressional Insiders, Cantor came in second only to Mitt Romney. Could this very well just be boosting of Cantor’s profile in the event of a Republican thumping in the House, leading to Cantor replacing Bohener as Minority Leader? Very likely. Still, neat to see a Virginian in the spotlight.
I apologize for going on a bit longer than I had anticipated, but this is a key example of the sort of prolonged bloviating you should come to expect in the next few weeks. Hopefully, we can get back to issues, particularly with so much at stake (next post: energy). Still, always fun to think about the machinations of politics. I consider myself afflicted with ADIDAP (All Day I Dream About Politics).
