Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
Unlike most Virginia governors, Tim Kaine appears to be planning to leave office in two years without any plans to run again for elective office.
The Richmond Democrat apparently means it when he tells reporters there is no logical next office for him to seek.
He is planning to do lunch Monday at the University of Virginia center run by the last Virginia governor to exit the office without an electoral reentry plan—former Gov. Gerald Baliles’ Miller Center of Public Affairs. Baliles didn’t arrive at the Miller Center until he hit the Hunton & Williams law firm’s mandatory sweep-partners-out-the-door retirement age of 65.
Most of the governors just prior to and after Baliles thought of themselves as candidates for president and/or the U.S. Senate, otherwise known as the graveyard for presidential aspirants.
Kaine, a civil rights lawyer, must believe there is life after the governor’s mansion that does not involve a public paycheck. The lunch, like the governor’s future, is not on the public schedule.
Lacking a plan to run for office again makes Kaine a little different—and more free to speak his mind.
Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
Democrats and Republicans who argue that parties do make a difference may be right.
Can anyone imagine a Republican governor such as Jerry Kilgore warning localities and other officials that cracking down hard on immigrants in the country illegally might hurt the state’s economy?
Gov. Tim Kaine, a Richmond Democrat, responded to questions about immigration at Tuesday’s AP Day at the Capital forum by opposing a patchwork locality-by-locailty set of crackdowns against undocumented immigrants and by warning that making immigrants feel unwelcome would hurt Virginia’s economy.
He warned that officials in the state “have to be extremely careful that we don’t send a message that the commonwealth of Virginia is not a welcoming place for new Americans. That is critical.”
Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
Republicans at last weekend’s GOP Advance in Arlington have been trying to explain Ron Paul’s victory in an informal straw poll with some going to silly lengths to discount it.
A straw poll among only about 500 people is no big deal, but backers of several of Paul’s GOP presidential opponents look a bit childish in their bids to pour cold water on the Texas congressman’s win.
Some said only Paul’s campaign “bused in” supporters, despite no evidence of buses in sight and plenty of evidence that his camp took the poll more seriously than the smaller Thompson, Huckabee or Romney crowds.
Rick Sincere, a Libertarian Republican whose name speaks to his honesty, said in his blog, “the fact is those supporters showed up on their own after being encouraged to attend by others from inside and outside the campaign.“
A few party regulars said second place was really first place and Fred Thompson really won. That’s a good way for a party to start accumulating a lot of silver medals.
