ALL THINGS VIRGINIAN AND MARK WARNER RELATED
Delegate Won't Run, Easing Gilmore's Senate Bid
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 2, 2007; Page C05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/01/AR2007120101420.html
Virginia Del. Christopher B. Saxman said yesterday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, clearing a major obstacle in former governor James S. Gilmore III's quest to unite the party around his candidacy before the state convention in May.
Saxman (Staunton) announced his decision at the Virginia Republican Party Advance in Crystal City, an annual retreat that draws hundreds of activists and party leaders
In the evening, a presidential straw poll was held at the retreat. Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) won with 38 percent of the votes; former Tennessee senator Fred D. Thompson came in second with 23 percent. The poll had no bearing on the delegates Virginia will send next summer to the national GOP convention. Virginia will hold a presidential primary Feb. 12.
Saxman, considered a rising star in the state party, said he decided to forgo a bid for the seat held by retiring Sen. John W. Warner (R) because he didn't think he would have enough time to raise the money needed to compete with Gilmore.
Republican Rally
http://www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/news/headlines/11981641.html
Posted: 6:28 PM Nov 30, 2007Last Updated: 8:00 PM Nov 30, 2007Reporter: Philip Stewart
Virginia republicans are gearing up for a very busy election cycle ahead in 2008. But it's one even republicans admit may be a challenge.
"In all things, including politics, there's ebbs and flows," said Keith Drake, the chairman of the Albemarle County Republicans. The pendulum swings both ways, and it swung the other way here the last two or three years, but I sense that it's swinging back."
About 700 republican party activists and office holders gathered in Arlington for the party's annual retreat. It's an opportunity to rally the base and build new energy in the party, as campaign 2008 kicks into high gear.
"It's a great opportunity for the Republican party to try and generate some momentum and enthusiasm," explained Sean O'Brien with the Sorensen Institute. "They've just come off a hard political season with the elections a few weeks ago and they need to get the base re-energized in 2008 and 2009."
"You've got two open seats at the federal level. (There are) lots of good republicans running for those seats and lots of good supporters of those candidates, and that will create a lot of excitement this weekend," said Drake, who has attended the annual event several times in years past.
Earlier in November, republicans lost control of the General Assembly. Ahead in 2008, democrats have a front-running senate candidate in former governor Mark Warner. And some say a democratic presidential nominee could even win Virginia for the first time in more than 40 years.
But the republican party retreat is aimed at preventing all of that from happening by energizing the supporters early. It's energy that's often carried back to smaller, individual communities by the leaders who attend the event.
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/JohnMcCaslin/2007/11/30/in_closing
Governor vs. governor
Across the Potomac River, former Virginia governor and now U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Mark Warner was spotted with campaign supporters Wednesday night at Old Town Alexandria's Stardust Restaurant.
We'd asked Democratic National Committee chairman-turned-Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign manager Terry McAuliffe this week whether he would be making campaign appearances for Mr. Warner in Virginia during the course of the campaign, and he replied confidently: "Mark doesn't need my help, he'll do fine." (READ BETWEEN THAT LINE!)
Meanwhile, Inside the Beltway has word that former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III, Mr. Warner's Republican opponent for the seat being vacated by Virginia Republican Sen. John W. Warner, will kick off his Senate candidacy on Wednesday at the Richmond Omni.
He'll hold a second campaign kick-off at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington the next day.
Kaine: Va.'s presidential past won't trip M. Warner
Richmond Times Dispatch - Richmond,VA,USA
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/politics.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-11-29-0104.html
"I do not think she will hurt Mark Warner," Kaine said. Warner, a former governor, has yet to announce his choice for president. But through his spokesman, ...
Pledge of Allegiance
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/pledge-of-allegiance
New York Times Blogs - New York,NY,USA
Mark Warner's rise to Governor and certainly to Senate in '08 brings a new day to Virginia and possibly a completely new vision to the Democratic Party; ...
Open primaries in which voters don’t have to be a member of a party to vote for its candidates have long been a thorn in the sides of national Democrats and Republicans. Now, according to the Associated Press, Virginia’s G.O.P. is going to do something about it: “If you’re planning to vote in Virginia’s February Republican presidential primary, be prepared to sign an oath swearing your Republican loyalty. The State Board of Elections on Monday approved a state Republican Party request to require all who apply for a G.O.P. primary ballot first vow in writing that they’ll vote for the party’s presidential nominee next fall.”
The Roanoke Times doesn’t hanker to the idea: “The Republican Party of Virginia has no interest in thoughtful voters. It only wants mindless party loyalists who will vote Republican no matter what.” (Thanks, Steve Benen.)
Eric Kleefeld at TPM Election Central, adds: “Sen. Harry Byrd Jr. (D-VA) famously bolted from the Democrats and became an independent in the 1970s due to such a loyalty oath being imposed on candidates, but this goes an extra step by putting the the oath to voters. Oddly enough, the state Board of Elections has approved the request, even though it would be impossible to enforce the contract not only practically, but probably in legal terms, too as contracts requiring a party to vote a certain way in an election are illegal.”
Libby Spencer at the Newshoggers sees a tactical angle: “It’s unenforceable of course and probably arises from a fear that Democrats and Independents will vote for Ron Paul in the primary and then vote Democratic in the general election but it smacks of such desperation that you can almost smell the sweat.”
MARSHALL CONSIDERS RUN FOR SENATE
http://www.manassasjm.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MJM/MGArticle/WPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353636909&path=
Manassas Journal Messenger - Manassas,VA,USA
Del. Robert G. "Bob" Marshall, R-Prince William, is hoping his conservative record will boost him to the top of the GOP nomination process to replace U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va.
That's if he makes a formal decision to run against former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who announced one week ago that he'd run against former Gov. Mark Warner in the Senate race.
Marshall is soliciting feedback on a possible run for John Warner's seat and is waiting for the right time to decide if he'll officially throw his hat in the ring, he said on Monday.
"People are interested in me because they don't think that Gilmore can pull together the Reagan coalition they think I can," Marshall said in a phone interview.
In January Marshall will start his ninth term in the Virginia House of Delegates.
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353617745&path=!news
The season of perpetual politics in Virginia has finished the briefest of vacations and is about to gear up in earnest for U.S. Senate and presidential contests, which are just around the corner.
Republican contests for the presidential nomination are wide open in Virginia as the GOP approaches its Feb. 12 primary and an interesting Dec. 1 straw poll, while the party’s springtime nomination for the U.S. Senate is shaping up as a two-man showdown between favored conservative Jim Gilmore of Henrico County and Staunton’s own Del. Chris B. Saxman.
And for U.S. Senate ...
The winner of the likely Gilmore-Saxman nomination contest, which is to be decided at a Richmond GOP convention on May 31, gets to face overfunded Democrat Mark R. Warner of Alexandria in a Novem-ber election that Warner is heavily favored to win.
Saxman, 42, finds himself encouraged to make the bid by fellow Republicans in the House of Delegates, where he is a well-liked conservative who has been widely believed to be a likely 2009 candidate for lieutenant governor.
Those encouraging him to join the U.S. Senate nomination contest with Gil-more say it will not hurt his potential bid for state-wide office the following year.
‘Happy,’ he’s not
http://www.dailypress.com/news/nationworld/dp-news_gilmore_1120nov20,0,6038859.story
Washington — - In launching his U.S. Senate campaign Monday, former Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore could be heading for a titanic clash against his Democratic successor: former Gov. Mark Warner.On one side would be Gilmore, the conservative crusader against Virginia's hated car tax who helped create a Republican majority in the General Assembly.On the other side stands Warner, the tech-savvy businessman who worked across party lines to rejuvenate the state's economy, streamline government and protect the state's top credit rating.
But next year's potentially epic struggle to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. John Warner hardly begins as an even match.Gilmore enters the race as the clear underdog, hobbled by weak public approval ratings, questionable fundraising prowess, and a fractured Republican Party base that is uneasy about his candidacy.While Mark Warner appears to have a lock on the Democratic Party nomination, Gilmore could face a challenge for his party's backing from a younger, less strident, conservative rival.State Del. Chris Saxman, R-Augusta, said Monday he is seriously exploring a Senate bid at the encouragement of House colleagues and others.
THE PROMISED LAND
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071122_the_promised_land
Truthdig - United States
... advice to sebelius and former virginia gov. mark warner, a democrat who once persuaded a republican legislature to raise taxes. warner, o'malley said, ...
WASHINGTON—Imagine a place where the leading politician pokes fun at those who “regard all taxes as a pestilence, a plague or a disease.”
Imagine the same politician saying: “Not one of us wants to pay more in taxes. But you know what we want even less? What we want even less is to leave our country to our kids in a worsened condition.”
And imagine a place where other politicians are grown-ups and decide that closing budget deficits requires a mix of tax increases and spending cuts.
The place in question is clearly not Washington, D.C. Facing a $1.7 billion budget deficit, Gov. Martin O’Malley—who offered the above observations in an interview—led the Maryland Legislature this week to approve $1.4 billion in taxes and $550 million in spending cuts. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that kind of balance from the federal government.
At the same time, the Legislature extended health coverage to 100,000 of its citizens and approved new money for transportation, education and cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.
You’d be laughed out of the state if you ever claimed that Annapolis, the capital, was home to model behavior, political purity or Solomonic wisdom.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-111907-gilmore,1,1704105.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
Former Va. governor running for Senate
By Tim Craig and Debbi Wilgoren The Washington Post
9:57 AM CST, November 19, 2007
RICHMOND, Va. - Former governor James Gilmore announced Monday morning he will be a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate next year.
In an e-mailed announcement, Gilmore declared, "The race is on."
Gilmore, who leans right on taxes and social issues, was widely expected to run for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John Warner (R), one of the Senate's best-known moderates. Gilmore becomes the first GOP candidate to enter the race.
If he secures the nomination, he will likely face Democrat Mark Warner, who succeeded him as governor in a state that has teetered in recent national elections between red and blue.
"I'm running for the United States Senate from Virginia because I want to be one of those leaders who call on the spirit that is common in all of us and use it to restore our country for the benefit of our people and in the eyes of the world," Gilmore, 58, said in an announcement video.
Gilmore was governor from 1998 to 2002 and served before that as Virginia's attorney general. He briefly campaigned to become the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, but he failed to gather significant traction and dropped out in July.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1950254720071119
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia, whose 2008 presidential bid never got off the ground, said on Monday he would run for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Republican John Warner.
Gilmore's long-expected announcement sets up a high-profile Senate race against popular Democratic former Gov. Mark Warner in the November 2008 election. The match-up will be crucial to Democratic hopes of expanding their slim one-seat margin of power in the Senate.
Gilmore headed a national commission on terrorism before the September 11, 2001, attacks and is a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and the Republican Governors Association.
"I can offer Virginians unparalleled experience and a strong and steady hand," on crucial issues like national security, transportation, immigration and education, he said in a video announcing his candidacy.
"On all these issues, our leaders have let us down and we badly need new hands on the wheel," he said. "In the last year, we have unfortunately seen that these failures are not just unique to one political party."
http://www.examiner.com/a-1057318~Gilmore_formally_enters_U_S__Senate_race.html
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore officially announced Monday morning he will run for the U.S. Senate next year, setting up a showdown with the popular Democrat who succeeded him.
Gilmore, who briefly sought the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, made his declaration in a video statement e-mailed to supporters and the media.
"We have a great many challenges facing our country," said Gilmore, who served as the state's chief executive from 1998 to 2002. "Of course, serious problems and crises are nothing new for America. But today, I'm sorry to say, we also find too often that our leaders just aren't up to the challenge."
Gilmore alienated many moderate Republicans during his gubernatorial term by pushing forward with plans to eliminate the personal property tax on automobiles, despite the proposal's escalating costs and a slowing state economy. The disagreement led to a historic budget impasse in 2001 and bolstered Democrat Mark Warner's campaign for governor against Republican Attorney General Mark Earley.
The race will be expensive. Warner, a multimillionaire, raised $1.1 million in less than three weeks after announcing his campaign in October. Early polls following Warner's kickoff showed him way ahead of potential Republican rivals, including Gilmore, but pundits are not anointing the Democrat yet.
"I think Gilmore has more of a chance than people are giving him credit for," said Sean O'Brien, director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. "He believes so strongly in what he is doing and he has been elected statewide as attorney general and then governor. He has a lot of people out there who will support him no matter what."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111901512.html
2009 GOVERNOR'S RACE WILL BE STATE'S LITMUS TEST
For those who can't get enough of Virginia elections, time to look ahead to the governor's race in 2009.
Yes, there is a U.S. Senate and presidential election next November.
But with former governor Mark R. Warner (D) an early favorite to win the Senate race, the election for governor will be the contest that will really decide whether Virginia is turning blue or if party gains this decade were largely because of President Bush's unpopularity.
Candidates in both major parties are starting to gear up for the governor's race. And much of the early positioning centers on who is most likely to win a general election, an issue that might dominate both parties' nominating contests in 2009.
Is Every Democrat In Virginia a 'Centrist'?
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2007/11/20/every-democrat-virginia-centrist
NewsBusters – USA
As governor, Mark Warner largely stuck with the libertine left when social issues came before the legislature. Warner's transition from statewide campaigns ...
MONEY WOES KEEP GOP WORRIED ABOUT 2008
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6836.html
Senate Republicans are in trouble, and last week’s Democratic victories in Kentucky and Virginia suggest their challenges may be steeper than even they thought. The day after Republican Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher was tossed out of office, one of his biggest political patrons launched ads to protect himself from the fallout.
Who was he?
No less than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
