| By J. Seago - Feb 15th, 2007 at 2:57 am EST |
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine will endorse Senator Barack Obama this Saturday. Outside of potentially improving Obama's popularity in the South, this endorsement strengthens a 2008 possibility birthed by Mark Warner's withdrawal in October.
The possibility of seeing the formation of an Obama/Warner ticket solidified last Saturday when Obama told the American people we can bring broadband internet to inner cities and rural areas across the country. That was pure Warner.
Past rumors swirled for a short time that part of Mark Warner’s decision to drop out of the 2008 race was rooted in Obama upstaging him when both were speaking in the same state at the same time. Local and national media coverage gushed over Obama while it barely mentioned Warner, Bayh and others. After Mark Warner’s announcement in October, many pulling a paycheck from the former Governor of Virginia jumped ship to pull a paycheck from Barack Obama. That is not to say anything of the countless former Warner supporters now mad with Obama fever.
Now we have Tim Kaine, Warner’s gubernatorial successor and political protégé, publicly and officially endorsing Senator Barack Obama.
Illinois and Virginia may be more important in 2008 than what conventional wisdom dictates today.
!
Comments are closed for this post.
Now Virginia, given the right factors in turnout, could become a battleground state: though I remember these rumors from 2004, and I also am painfully aware that it took a ‘Macaca’ moment for George Allen to loose in 2006.
While juvenile rumors like this are fun fodder, I think even in this low-stakes pallor game that J. Seago is off the mark.
Shocker—Obama while receiving the endorsement of a Virginia governor gave similar talking points as the previous, Democratic governor!
My mind is truly blown.
Wasn’t the rumor mill saying just months ago that Warner’s dropping out of the presidential race was to get Hilary’s VP slot?
Let’s bring some reality to this discussion.
Obama, a freshman Senator with little experience in foreign affairs or in national politics, isn’t going to pick a one-term governor of Virginia, bringing the same weakness.
But wait, you say, Obama will pick up Virginia with Warner on the ticket!
He might, but the collective inexperience of the ticket would probably hurt him in other states—and Virginia, as well.
If Obama wins and if he picks a Virginian (two very risky bets), it’s not going to be Mark Warner.
Rather in the VP slot will be Jim Webb.
Warner, while loved by this Virginian progressive, does not have the same excitement buzz and appeal of Jim Webb. Webb, perceived as an experience, pro-military, and somewhat conservative Democrat also brings with him a (while perhaps radical and impractical) domestic agenda that seeks to the growing economic inequality in our nation.
And Webb’s ‘Born Fighting’ PAC is building the financial infrastructure needed for either a VP run a year from now, or a shoot at the Presidency in 2012.
Democrats loose in 2012—the blasphemy! I would like to think that possibility is virtually impossible, but then again I was proved wrong in 2000 and 2004.
Military experience is an asset to any ticket and I believe Webb is another viable option for the VP slot yet his pluses certainly do not outweigh the pluses of Warner. Both bring positive qualities to the 2008 ticket and both have inherent weaknesses.
Expanding broadband internet across America is not a standard talking point of the Left- it's one of Warner's pet issues. Obama was not channeling the Democratic Party with that talking point. He was channeling Mark Warner.
Warner would be a fantastically capable VP. Also Brian Schweitzer could Authentically deliver Obama the West and add smart, assuring gravitas. A solid tandem either way.