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Jeff E. Schapiro has this report:
Virginians don’t choose their next governor for another year, but that’s not stopping Democrats who want the job from trading jabs now.
Terry McAuliffe, confidante of Bill and Hillary Clinton and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is bristling over a perceived attack by Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria.
In an e-mail today to political reporters, the Moran communications director Jesse Ferguson is circulating snippets from newspaper editorials, columns and news stories critical of McAuliffe’s all-but-official candidacy.
Among the points made in these accounts: That McAuliffe, a long-time player in national politics who lives in McLean, is inexperienced in Virginia affairs.
Mo Elleithee, a McAuliffe spokesman, fired back with a somewhat tart written statement.
In it, Elleithee said, “Brian Moran and his campaign have been spending a curiously large amount of time focused on someone who’s not even a declared candidate for governor yet, and their tone has been surprisingly negative.“
Elleithee says his man is “saving his criticism for Bob McDonnell”—the attorney general and the presumed Republican nominee for governor.
Ferguson says McAuliffe is firing at the wrong target. Ferguson said, “If you’ve got a problem with what editorialists and columnists have written, then take it up with the authors.“
McAuliffe, who would bring vast fund-raising contacts to a statewide race, formally discloses his plans for ‘09 in early January. He would be the third candidate for governor in the June Democratic primary.
Also running is Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, who was defeated for attorney general by McDonnell in 2001 in Virginia’s closest statewide election. McDonnell won by 360 votes.
F.O.B. (Friend of Barack) and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has knocked down a rumor that he would take the job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, succeeding Howard Dean, who announced he will step down in January.
Speaking at a news conference on energy at the state capitol in Richmond, Kaine—who has repeatedly said he would not leave the Governor’s Mansion to take a job in the Obama administration before his term expires—also dismissed the idea that he would do both jobs.
“I would view it as taking my eye off the ball if that were to happen,“ Kaine told inquiring reporters. The governor did say that he had received a call probing his interest in the job, and told bigwigs that he was not interest in the post while he was governor.
Tyler Whitley reports that today RealClearPolitics, a Web site that analyzes the election state-by-state, downgraded Democrats’ chances in Virginia to “barely Democratic.“ They had hovered in the “weak Democratic” category for weeks.
Still, the Web site gives Barack Obama an easy electoral college victory over Republican John McCain nationally. The site analyzes the election prospects on a state-by-state basis according to polls.
A Mason-Dixon Opinion Research poll done for the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week showed Obama with a 3 percentage point lead over McCain in Virginia. That result is within the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Tyler Whitley reports that today RealClearPolitics, a Web site that analyzes the election state-by-state, downgraded Democrats’ chances in Virginia to “barely Democratic.“ They had hovered in the “weak Democratic” category for weeks.
Still, the Web site gives Barack Obama an easy electoral college victory over Republican John McCain nationally. The site analyzes the election prospects on a state-by-state basis according to polls.
A Mason-Dixon Opinion Research poll done for the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week showed Obama with a 3 percentage point lead over McCain in Virginia. That result is within the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Tyler Whitley reports that former Republican Congressman Thomas J. Bliley Jr., voting today at Westhampton Baptist Church in Richmond predicted a long night for Republicans unless “there is a Bradley effect.”
That is the circumstance in which some people are embarassed to tell pollsters that they can’t bring themselves to vote for an African-American, so they don’t tell the pollster the truth.
It is named after former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, an African-American. In 1982 he ran for governor of California and led the polls heading into election day, but he lost the race to a Republican. It is also called the “Wilder effect” after Richmond’s Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, who led by a good margin in the polls in the race for governor in 1989, but barely eked out a victory.
Bliley predicted Republicans would begin making a comeback in 2010, because the Democrats will move too far to the left.
Bliley represented the 7th congressional district for 20 years before retiring in 2000. He was succeeded by Rep. Eric I. Cantor, also a Republican, who was up for re-election today.
