The other sage of Charlottesville weighs in
Olympia Meola
July 31, 2008 11:55 AM
Jeff E. Schapiro reports:
Larry Sabato, the U.Va. politics guru, examines the Tim Kaine VP boom-let in the latest “Crystal Ball” from the Center for Politics.
You can read it at centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/
Click on “Vice President Tim Kaine.”
LG candidate ramps up
Olympia Meola
July 31, 2008 11:43 AM
Jeff E. Schapiro has this tidbit:
John Bowerbank, a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2009, is fashioning a staff for the race ahead that includes some familiar names from previous—and successful—Democratic campaigns.
Bowerbank, so far unopposed for the Democratic nomination, is hiring Mark Warner’s principal strategist from the 2001 governor’s race, Steve Jarding.
Also, Lowell Feld, who handled net-roots for Gov. Tim Kaine and U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, is doing the same thing for Bowerbank.
And Pete Brodnitz, pollster to Kaine and Webb, will crunch numbers for Bowerbank.
At least one more Democrat is likely to make the race for LG—Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner
Looking out for No. 2
Olympia Meola
July 28, 2008 3:39 PM
Jeff E. Schapiro reports:
The No. 2 guy in state government is now the No. 2 guy in a nationl organization that looks out for No. 2 guys.
Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is the new vice chairman of the National Lieutenant Governors Association. He was elected to the post during the NLGA annual meeting last week in Buffalo, New York.
Bolling had been treasurer. He also serves on the group’s executive committee.
Bolling, a former state senator from Hanover, was elected lieutenant governor in 2005. He is seeking a second term.
Enviros grade solons
Olympia Meola
July 28, 2008 9:45 AM
Jeff E. Schapiro reports:
The Virginia League of Conservation voters is rolling out its General Assembly report card.
It can be found at http://www.vaclv.org.
Reading the tea leaves for veep
Andrew Cain
July 27, 2008 4:39 PM
In an interview Sunday with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” here’s what Barack Obama said he’s looking for in a running mate:
“I want somebody who I’m compatible with, who I can work with, who has a shared vision, who certainly complements me in the sense that they provide a knowledge base or an area of, of expertise that can be useful.”
Obama’s emphasis on compatability—not military credentials—surely got the attention of the first governor outside of Illinois who endorsed the Illinois senator, Virginia’s Tim Kaine.
It will be intriguing to see whether that useful “area of expertise” might encompass Kaine’s stints as mayor of Richmond and governor of Virginia, or the chance that he might send 13 electoral votes Obama’s way.
Signs of support
Olympia Meola
July 25, 2008 4:03 PM
Lieutenant governor hopeful Jon Bowerbank’s camp said today that he has support from three Democrats who ran for the nomination to the same post in 2005.
Former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne, Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, and Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell, have all endorsed Bowerbank, according to a release sent this afternoon.
“Jon and I share many common values,” Petersen said in the release. “These include economic fairness, environmental protection, educational excellence and standing up for the people against the powerful special interests.”
Bowerbank, a member of the Russell County Board of Supervisors, could have competition for the party’s nomination. Jody Wagner, the state’s Secretary of Finance and a Democrat, has been mentioned as a possible candidate.
Where Was Doug? Where was Bill?
Jim Nolan
July 22, 2008 4:35 PM
Conspicuously absent from Monday’s historic dedication of the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial was one of the Commonwealth’s—and the country’s—most significant political figures:
L. Douglas Wilder.
Wilder, the current mayor of Richmond, home to our state capitol, was also the nation’s first black governor, elected in 1989. He was a card-playing friend of noted civil rights attorney Oliver W. Hill Sr., who represented Moton High School student Barbara Johns, whose walkout on April 23, 1951 is immortalized in the memorial unveiled Monday.
So where was Doug?
“He wanted to be there but there was no way he could change his schedule ,” said mayoral spokesman Linwood Norman. “He had a previous longstanding commitment.”
When asked whether the commitment was on city business or personal, Norman said he did not know.
There was no such mystery surrounding the absence of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. Bolling sent his regrets through Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, who spoke at the ceremony in Bolling’s absence. Bolling was attending the annual conference/junket of the National Association of Lieutenant Governors in captivating Buffalo, N.Y.
Kaine Body Man Hits The Road For Obama
Jim Nolan
July 18, 2008 11:28 AM
Jeff Tiller, Deputy Press Secretary for Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, is leaving the governor’s side to work for the campaign of presumptive democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The indefatiguable Tiller has been at Kaine’s side for most of the Governor’s appearances throughout the state since Kaine took office in 2006, wielding Blackberry and cell phone will equal aplomb. Kaine is a national co-chair for Obama and oft-mentioned, albeit dark-horse candidate, to be the Illinois senator’s running mate.
The twentysomething Tiller, who lives in Richmond’s Fan District, will be working on Obama’s advance team, helping to organize public appearances across the country for the candidate. He heads to Obamalot after in a week.
-- Jim Nolan
Fairfax Republicans Try to Punish Their Own
Andrew Cain
July 16, 2008 6:01 PM
Neil H. Simon of Media General’s Washington bureau reports that in an effort to minimize the growing number of Republicans defecting to support Democrat Mark Warner’s Senate bid, Northern Virginia GOP activists wagged their finger Tuesday night at Republicans who have already strayed from the fold.
The Fairfax County Republican Committee passed a resolution at their monthly meeting stating “its disapproval of Republicans publicly supporting Mark Warner,” and encouraging “those that have already done so to discontinue their active support.”
The resolution passed by voice vote among the roughly 200 members present, committee chairman Jim Hyland said.
Earlier Tuesday Republicans had considered voting on other measures to punish Republicans who support Warner. One idea would have amounted to a censure of recently retired State Delegate Vincent F. Callahan (R-McLean), who has backed Warner.
The final resolution did not name any Warner-backing Republicans, but did acknowledge the lack of enthusiasm some Republicans have for their own Senate nominee, Jim Gilmore.
“We know that any one Republican, at any time, may be dissatisfied with the nominee,” the resolution read, “but that dissatisfaction is best reflected in the privacy of the voting booth.”
Fairfax County Republican Committee chairman Jim Hyland said, “People had wanted something stronger. We have a lot of people who are upset about this series of Republicans endorsing Mark Warner.”
“We ended up with more of a consensus resolution,” Hyland said.
Gilmore’s and Warner’s campaigns did not immediately return calls Wednesday.
The state of our schools
Olympia Meola
July 15, 2008 12:48 PM
Northern Virginia residents can expect to see a new TV spot targeting the state of education in the United States.
Addressing what they call America’s “sub-par education system,” Strong American Schools launched an advertising campaign this week that will run in Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin.
SAS says it’s spending more than $5 million on the “One Nation Left Behind” campaign.
The actress Jamie Lee Curtis narrates the 30-second spot, which shows a forlorn-looking boy running the flags of other countries up a pole before adding the American flag at the end. Curtis says in the ad that schools in the other countries are outperforming ours and that “America is only as strong as her schools.”
You can view the TV spot at http://www.strongamericanschools.org.
SAS is a nonpartisan advocacy effort “aimed at elevating discussion amongst America’s leaders about the need for education reform.” The group is supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Strong American Schools’ new ad, One Nation Left Behind, underscores the harsh reality that America has slipped to the middle of the pack,” Marc Lampkin, executive director of Strong American Schools, said in a statement. “Currently American students are being left behind when compared to their international peers. Recent tests show that, out of 30 industrialized nations, 24 countries outperformed American students in math and 20 outperformed American students in science.”
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