Bloggers love McAuliffe?

So not every national blog is sitting around taking potshots at Terry McAuliffe - OK maybe not yet.

But it interesting to see that depending on where you look you're going to get a different impression of the guy. Over at the The Huffington Post there's a pretty glowing article about McAuliffe's efforts to woo the online community that helped get Sen. Jim Webb into office. Some of the folks are avid and open Clinton fans and Hillary supporters - so take it with a grain of salt.

From the story:

 "[T]here's more to this guy than meets the eye," Chris Graham of the progressive August Free Press wrote last week, "because this guy clearly knows what he's talking about, and I'm saying that as someone whose job for the past 14 years has been knowing Virginia politics inside and out."

Here's the link.

Where are the sledgehammers and the chain saws....ZZZZZZZZZ

Sometimes we get a little wrapped up in the partisan back-and-forth up here - that's why it's a little bit refreshing to sit back and read about the democratic process in South Korea.

Can't you see if now? Senate Finance Chairman Charles Colgan busting down the door with baseball bat to take of House Speaker William J. Howell, who is armed with a roaring weed-whacker. Bet you'd read that story.

What a great read!

Blackwater out in Iraq...

It's part politics and part Virginia, and word is creeping out that the independent defense contractor Blackwater is being asked to leave Iraq. 

According to the Washington Post and The New York Times - the company that provides security to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad applied for a license to continue operating in Iraq. And the Iraqi government said NO. 

Click here for the Washington Post story.

Or click here for the New York Times report.

   

What was I thinking???

Great great video from Andrew Sullivan's blog - of a 1981 report about the newspaper on your computer.

The grainy newsroom footage is an instant classic - and it makes me want to go to law school.

Kaine steps into new role...

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has been head of the Democratic National Committee for a little over a week now - and now we've got his first blast email statement. This time Kaine is praising the first bill signed by President Barack Obama, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.  

As follows:

“By signing this historic bill, President Barack Obama made good on his promise to ensure that every American is treated fairly under the law.  Women still make only 78 cents for every dollar men earn, creating a disparity that hurts not only women but all of our families.  As we work to address the current economic crisis, it’s more important than ever that our economy works for everyone and protections are in place to prevent pay discrimination. Following a strong legislative effort, I’m particularly proud that it was our new President who signaled the importance of the principle of equal pay for equal work by making it the first bill signed during his presidency.”

 

 

McAuliffe's Clinton yin meet McAuliffe's Clinton yang...

Earlier this week we told you about a swanky Terry McAuliffe fundraiser in New York City that was headlined by Bill Clinton and brought in a staggering $350,000 in campaign cash in a matter of hours.

It's exactly those sort of affairs that have pumped new urgency into the Democratic gubernatorial race, ratcheting up the excitment and the intrigue. 

But just a few days later we started to get a glimpse of the potential for blowback on McAuliffe. A beefy national profile and high-placed friends can help you gather attention, money and voters. But that same profile and those same friends also come complete with a personal bull's eye. On Wednesday, bloggers at the prominent Democratic site - Daily Kos - posted McAuliffe's first Virginia campaign commercial - the one that features Hampton Roads - along with some not so flattering words.

The blogger seized on McAuliffe's attempts to run as a Richmond outsider - specifically his line in the new ad that says "the best ideas don't always come out of Richmond." 

Let the mocking begin:  

"Yeah, those damn elitists downstate in Richmond don't know nothing! Well, at least not as much as the Floridian New Yorker who has been the embodiment of the DC establishment as the Clintons' chief money guy for over a decade (and a big-money party operative for nearly three decades). So crash that Richmond gate, Terry, because what Virginia needs is just a little more D.C.

Just make sure you know where the heck Richmond is. It's that place directly south from your usual hangout."

Wow.

But you've got to believe that McAuliffe knew that this was part of the delicate balance in this race. Brian Moran and Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, have both been officially running for governor for more than a year, with reputations and groundwork in state politics that stretch back more than a decade. So in that way McAuliffe is primed to be the outside voice. But McAuliffe's carrying his own background and baggage. 

Plus with the attention that going to fall on the Virginia gubernatorial election for the rest of the year, McAuliffe has to know that he's going to make good fodder for Democratic and Republican sideline snipers from around the country. Every twist and turn in the race is going to be watched - and maybe that bodes well for McAuliffe because he has weathered plenty of political storms and come out smiling on the other side. 

Meanwhile, Moran and Deeds are accustomed to the slings and arrows in Richmond but the probably aren't primed for the kind of overwhelming attention at McAuliffe has worked through. 

     

   

The governor sits down with the budget negotiators right about now...

For the first time this session, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is about to sit down with budget negotiators from the House of Delegates and the Senate.

The state budget hole has been and will be the dominant story of the session and these folks are going to be the power players when all the bad news starts trickling out - so it's important to note the first sitdown. The House named negotiators on Monday and it is a familiar cast.  

House conferees are Republicans Kirk Cox, Beverly Sherwood, Clarke Hogan and Phil Hamilton, Democrat Johnny Joannou of Portsmouth, and independent Lacey Putney.

The Senate hasn't officially named their folks yet - but the cast is likely to include Democrats Charles Colgan, Richard Saslaw, Janet Howell - we'll let you know who shows up.

According to the folks we're talking to this is going to be a simple - "meet and greet - good luck - tough times - lead Virginia forward meeting." But hey who knows - tempers can flare. 

Moran's Richmond endorsement comes from the mayor...

Newly-elected Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones was Brian Moran's not-so-mystery guest endorsement today. 

Moran's team had to cancel the press conference scheduled for this morning - but they trotted out the endorsement today anyway. Jones was just the latest on a long list and no real surprise because he used to work with Moran in the House of Delegates.

In the guberrnatorial race, Moran is using his longterm connections to gather backing all over the state to try to stay in the news now that he's out of the legislature. Sen. Creigh Deeds is working to garner attention inside the senate - and Terry McAuliffe just said - screw it I raised $350K in a couple hours I'm going to start running commercials before February. (McAuliffe of course did not actually say that, but you get the idea.) 

A Jones quote from Moran's team: 

“I’ve known Brian for more than a decade and worked side-by-side with him in the legislature.  We’ve fought for equal rights, quality education and equal opportunity for everyone.”

Fast drivers pay for cops gas and slowpoke students pay higher tuition?

Should students on the 7-year plan pay more to stay in school?

If you're pulled over by a state trooper, should you have to shell out an extra $10 to gas up the troopers car? 

Bits and pieces are floating around the General Assembly these days and it's unclear what's real and what isn't until the bills cross over between the House and the Senate. The strapped state budget is forcing lawmakers to get creative and we're already seeing new ideas popping up. 

One bill comes from Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax, who is angry that too many qualified students aren't getting into William and Mary, UVA and Virginia Tech. Initially Albo wanted to forces the schools to guarantee that they would let in more kids from in-state. 

Now Albo's tweaked the plan - and he wants in-state kids that are slowly working through college to pay a higher rate. In state students pay between 1/4 and 1/3 of the freight charged on kids from other states. Basically Albo is telling every kid from Virginia to try to get that degree in four-years - or be ready for a bigger check.

The bill hasn't even gotten out of committee yet and there are significant opponents who think the General Assembly should step up and help the schools expand rather than micro-managing. Others note that those schools typically have high graduation rates, but it is interesting to watch.

Meanwhile, down the hall in the other chamber Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, wants to give cities and counties the ability to charge speeders $10 for gas for troopers cars. Stuart argued that such a set-up would help the state and local governments offset budget cuts, but others are worried that it could fall hard on low-income residents. 

The proposal doesn't charge too much so, we doubt it's going to register with the public the way abuser fees did - but it ought to be interesting to see what happens to it. 

For those of you scoring at home - Albo's bill hasn't be changed in the system but it is HB 1696 click here and Stuart's bill in SB979 click here.

Virginia lawmakers are catching on to Twittering

The Hill.com reports that when President Barack Obama visited the House GOP to pitch his economic stimulus proposal, many of the gathered lawmakers immediately starting text-messaging their thoughts to their followers on Twitter.

Not a surprise, really -- lawmakers by nature love to share their opinions, even if those opinions are formed before the evidence is in. What I found more interesting than any of their individual comments was the tally that The Hill included of how many lawmakers are also Twitterers. And on that score, the Republicans still hold a majority: 29 Republicans Twitter, compared to 16 Democrats.

You can check on your lawmaker, and others, at TweetCongress.org.

I did a quick check of Virginia lawmakers and figured I'd add a bit more of a measurement: how many followers each lawmaker has picked up.

First the folks who don't Twitter at all: Democratic Sen. Jim Webb and Reps. Bobby Scott, Rick Boucher and Gerry Connolly, and GOP Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Frank Wolf. (Is anyone surprised that Sen. Webb, the author of "Born Fighting," doesn't Twitter? Maybe if they had called it QuickHits....)

Here are the Twitterers, and the number of people who follow them:
Rep. Glenn Nye (D) -- 27. Well, he's new.
Rep. Tom Perriello (D) -- 177. Also new. And he needs an update. His Twitter profile still describes him as a candidate.
Rep. Randy Forbes (R) -- 202. I'm surprised. I wouldn't have guessed that he's an early adopter.
Rep. Rob Wittman (R) -- 500.Very impressive for someone in his first full term.
Sen. Mark Warner (D) -- 966. I follow Sen. Warner. He's a big Tweeter. My favorite Tweet so far was the link he sent out to video he'd taken from his seat at the inauguration.
And the big winner? It comes with an asterisk ....
Rep. Eric Cantor (R). As the representative of the 7th District, he has just 28 followers. Very sad. But ... as the new House Republican whip, Cantor has surged into the lead with a whopping 1,880 followers.

(And by the way, down in the right-hand column, you'll see an item called "Dave's Twitter." Yeah, that would be me. Feel free to click on "follow." But I'll warn you that I do feel free to wander outside the realm of politics.
(I'm still working on persuading Kimball to sign up. He's such a luddite.)