Tapping into the big Hampton Roads money with Brian Moran...

You know it's a night for political bigwigs when the fundraiser is held at the "Mansion House" at Hampton University and it is hosted by Norma and Bill Harvey, Molly and Forrest Ward and Mary and Lou Haddad.

Del. Brian Moran is the honored guest at a reception on the Peninsula on Wednesday night and it looks like he's starting to lock down some important financial backers as the 2009 gubernatiorial race begins to ratchet up. The Democrats have to run early and often because the primary hits in early June and a two-man field could quickly become a three-headed monster.

Fundraising is likely to be uniquely important this year especially if Terry McAuliffe joins the race. Moran is already trying to beat out Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, but McAuliffe is the one who could turn the race into a spending frenzy - the guy hasn't laid the groundwork in Virginia but apparently he's got the greenbacks to make it a race. 

Which leads us back to Hampton University and Bill Harvey and a quick scan through the spreadsheets at the Virginia Public Access Project and you get an interesting picture.. Harvey is a powerbroker with significant clout in political circles - and tremendous sway over Democratic voters especially.

Hampton Mayor Molly Ward is a bigtime Democrat but her husband Forrest - a onetime candidate for the House of Delegates - has given to Moran and Deeds in the past year - so maybe he's betting both horses.  

Haddad is the president and CEO of Virginia Beach construction behemouth Aramada Hoffler. His donor profile is something of a mixed bag - with thousands in donations to Mark Early, Ken Stolle, and Jim Gilmore. 

But his wife, Mary, was pretty generous to the Democrats - shelling out $35,000 in 2005 for Gov. Timothy  M. Kaine's run for the executive mansion. 

Plug in the company profile for Armada Hoffler and you'll see that the donations are spread around quite a bit. $104,720 to support Mark R. Warner's run for governor, $40,000 for Jerry Kilgore's failed bid. But a little further down the list there's a $12,500 outlay for Attorney Gen. Bob McDonnell - the Republican candidate for governor.

The race is starting in earnest - lets see who's picking sides.  

       

Comments

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[Phillip Paul]

If we could only get Brian Kirwin to advise the McDonnell campaign, we could call this election for whomever the Democrats pick and get on with it. Nice job on Williams, there "world shaker"! hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha