For the First Time in 41 Years . . .

. . . I will be living for an extended period of time under a Republican Governor!

In case you don't get the joke, I grew up in Maryland, and moved to Virginia just in time for Mark Warner to be sworn in. Sometimes I thought that I was cursed! With any luck, the curse has been broken.

So yeah, the last Republican Governor under whom I lived (at least as a State resident, even though not one of voting age) was Spiro Agnew. Ugh!

37th District Primary Avoided!

Result of Stimulus Spending

In a surprise announcement, the Fairfax County Republican Committee said that a primary was no longer needed for Virginia’s 37th Senatorial District to replace Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli. “Thanks to the stimulus, we have extra Congressional districts, so two of the Republican candidates can run for those and leave the State Senate seat clear for the third candidate,” according to an announcement at the FCRC meeting. “One will be the 37th Congressional District, and the second one has yet to be given a number. It is possible that it will be three digits.”

The extra Congressional districts are believed to be the work of Democratic National Committee Chairman and part-time Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. “I am doing this only in part as a favor to Governor-elect Bob McDonnell,” said Kaine. “But before you raise your eyebrows too much, don’t just think that this is meant to benefit Republicans. Believe me, we’ll move someone into those districts to challenge the Republicans as well.”

Kaine added, “I initially pushed to create the extra districts for Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner, and Steve Shannon. Jody has already snagged the ‘Zeroth’ district. I even wanted to designate a district for Leslie Byrne, but she just told me ‘Been there, done that.’”

Exclusive: Tim Kaine to Run for Cuccinelli’s Senate Seat

You Won’t Read this Stuff Anywhere Else

In a surprise move, outgoing Governor Tim Kaine announced that he was going to run as the Democratic candidate for the State Senate seat being vacated by Attorney General-Elect Ken Cuccinelli. Kaine said, “No Democrats who live in the District seem to be up to the job, and even the others just outside the District are pretty weak. Since I have won District 37 in the past, I am the best positioned candidate to win this seat.”

Kaine pointed out other advantages of the seat for himself. “Now that I am Chairman of the Democratic Party, I have to travel a lot. Dulles Airport is pretty close to District 37. I have a much better choice of flights from Dulles than from Richmond. Besides, as a State Senator, I have just the kind of part time job that suits my travel schedule. I will also be close to Washington, where I can go and take orders from the White House and from my labor union donors. I think I will have a better choice of places to go to trim my eyebrows, also.”

Local Democrats have learned to accept Kaine’s decision. “Honestly, looking for a another house is such a pain,” said Del. David Marsden (D-41). “Let Kaine deal with moving.” Former Democratic candidate Janet Oleszek said, “Initially, I was upset that I was discouraged from running. Now I am excited to see Tim Kaine in the area so I can make him waffles!” Kaine noted that outgoing Del. Chuck Caputo (D-67) was the most welcoming. “He is sharing many colorful cruise catalogs with me. I had no idea he enjoyed these things!” said Kaine.

Local Republicans reacted guardedly. “Clearly, Kaine is seen as a carpetbagger, but he is not originally from Virginia anyway,” said a spokesman for the Fairfax County Republican Committee. “But we welcome Governor Kaine to the area anyway. This way, he too can experience how well his promises on improving transportation in our area have worked.”

Bath-erly Hillbillies Theme

Apologies to . . . Well, No One!

Thanks to Kat for lighting a fire under me.

Since the RPV has gotten creative with musical themes, why can’t I?

Let me tell you all the story of a man named Creigh,
All he wants to do is raise taxes and fees,
After a debate he got himself confused,
And out of his mouth it sounded kinda rude

“Now you listen to me young lady!”

Ol’ Creigh wants to give all the voters quite a scare,
But you look at his website and there ain’t nothin’ there,
The Kaine-folk said, “You stammerin’ fool
You’re gonna usher in Republican rule!”

McDonnell, Bolling, Cuccinelli sweep, more effective government, happy tea partiers

(Note: If anyone feels silly enough to sing this, record it, and post it, or suggest other altered lyrics, be my guest.)

Creigh Deeds Endorses McDonnell Transportation Plan

“In a Hurry” to See It Enacted

Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds today endorsed at least one facet of Republican Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan when he was caught driving 76 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone. “As you know," said Deeds, "my opponent favors raising the speed limit to 70 miles per hour in some places. If that were the case, I would have been going only six miles per hour over the speed limit. In fact, I could have been going 81 miles per hour and had the same violation as today!”

Deeds claimed he was driving safely, since he “recently had a front end alignment.” A spokesman for the McDonnell campaign said that “maybe Creigh’s car isn’t as shaky as his campaign. One thing is for sure, though: If we have more incidents like this, we’ll have to have a special ‘transportation lock box’ just for Senator Deeds!”

Pollster.com: 2009 Virginia Gubernatorial General Election: Robert McDonnell (R) vs Creigh Deeds (D)

Pollster.com: 2009 Virginia Gubernatorial General Election: Robert McDonnell (R) vs Creigh Deeds (D)




Interesting trend here. Aren't graphs fun?

Democrats Struggling to Hold Black Vote

So says John Fund of the Wall Street Journal. All this taking for granted coming home to roost? Or is it wishful thinking?



(Sorry about the commercial up front.)

Traditional electoral trends have shown that Democrats generally need around 90% of the black vote (give or take) to win statewide. When Republicans increase their margins among minorities and get 20+%, Democratic victories are extremely difficult. Republican Bob McDonnell has been much more aggressive in courting this vote while Democrat Creigh Deeds seems to have been asleep at the switch. Will it make a difference? Will the same scenario play out in New Jersey?

Scoop: Jeff Frederick Replaced as RPV Chairman!

We have just gotten word that Jeff Frederick will be replaced as Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. According to sources, the White House has extended its strategy of replacing executives of companies to political party organizations. The new RPV Chairman will be none other than Senator Mark Warner (D). According to sources, Warner was judged to have the expertise in voter databases that political parties are said to need. In addition, Warner tours his own abilities to work with Republicans.

While Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell ponders the legalities of such a move, Governor Tim Kaine has been ecstatic. “Mark Warner has the gift of spending money like no one else does,” said the Governor. “He also can predict growth in revenue to match his spending, just like the Obama Administration is doing now. While the Republicans are our opponents, I wish them a lot of luck with Warner at the helm.”

It is believed that one of Warner’s first actions will be to activate a more aggressive fundraising effort for the RPV. “First, he will predict a budget shortfall,” said a source. “He will tax the local unit committees. He will promise a “Road to Richmond’ with the extra revenue, but will probably dole it out to special interests. Needless to say, it will be quite a Sprint.”

Various RPV members were unsure about Warner. “Well, we don’t really trust him,” said a member of the State Central Committee. “Then again, after Warner has been around, we could get quite a bailout.”

Ken Cuccinelli Thinks Things Through

Understanding the Law of Unintended Consequences

There has been quite a bit of blog debate on the “Triggerman Rule” changes that passed the Virginia State Senate. Senator Ken Cuccinelli (R-37), a Republican candidate for Attorney General, was the lone Republican to vote against these revisions.

Now I was not particularly emotional about this issue, and I really wasn’t going to comment. However, after reading what was being said both for and against Ken Cuccinelli, I felt I had to say something. Yes, I am a supporter of Ken Cuccinelli in the Attorney General race, but I plan to support whoever is the Republican nominee

The best synopsis I have seen comes from the I’m Surrounded by Idiots blog. Ken’s own words speak for themselves:

So you have the information yourself, I have always been a supporter of Virginia’s death penalty law. In the Senate, I have consistently fought against Democrats’ efforts to impose a death penalty moratorium - and I have opposed efforts to allow endless appeals in death penalty cases.

As a State Senator, I have voted to extend the death penalty to people who murder trial witnesses, judges and law enforcement officers. And as your Attorney General, I am committed to upholding the death penalty verdicts of our juries and will work to defend and strengthen our capital punishment law from intrusions and attempts by the left to derail it.

I also have supported and will continue to support the death penalty under the current exceptions to the “triggerman rule” for (1) terrorism (including the beltway sniper case), (2) murder for hire, and (3) criminal enterprises/gangs. However, there have been legislative attempts to completely eliminate the triggerman rule, which I believe would be too broad an expansion. That’s the only expansion of the death penalty that I have ever opposed, while supporting other expansions and always defending our current death penalty statute.

Senator Cuccinelli has been a great supporter of law enforcement and does believe in the use of capital punishment when it is appropriate. However, Ken is also analytical enough to understand when changes in the law can go too far or can be abused. This is not a “liberal” or “conservative” thing, but you can call it “classically liberal” in this case. Ken understands the “Law of Unintended Consequences,” in which the results obtained to not comport well with the intent(s) of the legislation. He also understands how laws have been abused in other countries, and, most importantly, how citizens do have to be protected from potentially unaccountable government.

Doesn’t everyone remember the disastrous abuser fee legislation of 2007? We all quickly saw how unpopular the fines were and how these fees were a poor way to fund road construction. Now, nobody’s perfect, but at least Ken understands from recent law-making experience how the Law of Unintended Consequences can also backfire.

The Republican candidates have enough legitimate issues to discuss, and should be sharing with the voters their vision of how they would be the best Attorney General. This Triggerman Rule issue is one on which thoughtful people can disagree and present legitimate arguments, but, as my friend Chris at Mason Conservative has pointed out, is unproductive as one on which to smear opponents.

FULL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: I wrote this post without any prompting by the Cuccinelli campaign.