Va. Gov: Deeds bags major union endorsement...

Democrat Creigh Deeds is going to have at least 5,000 Virginia union workers working for his campaign this fall against Republican Bob McDonnell. 

On Tuesday, the Service Employees International Union threw it's weight behind the Bath County Democrat's bid for the Virginia executive mansion. Let's just say that McDonnell's folks probably weren't holding their breath waiting for this endorsement. 

Unions are going to play an interesting role in this year's Virginia elections and in some ways they already have been a major player during the spring. Democrats saw a lot of national unions during the spring campaign when Terry McAuliffe picked up some big endorsements from unions and the Democratic Governors Association ran a strong anti-McDonnell campaign.

Here's a statement from some SEIU folks: 

“The national economic crisis has left too many families in the Commonwealth reeling, despite the fact that Virginia is currently in much better shape than much of the nation. Hardworking women and men simply cannot afford to slip any farther behind in this economy, and they want their next governor to not just understand their concerns but to fight for them. Senator Deeds has an impressive record fighting on behalf of working families and has earned his reputation as a consensus builder who the working families of Virginia can count on,” said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

“We need Creigh Deeds as our governor because he knows people need decent paying jobs to make ends meet,” said Romelia Legendre, an office cleaner and 32BJ SEIU member from Alexandria, Virginia. “He understands that we need to get workers back on their feet if we are to get the economy going.”

Meanwhile, McDonnell's folks are not sitting around and waiting for people to make the connection between Deeds and the union. McDonnell's folks said the SEIU is explicitly after Virginia's right-to-work laws.

The SEIU supports overturning Virginia's Right to Work law, a crucial part of Virginia's pro-jobs economic environment.  In the SEIU's candidate survey the union asked:

"Virginia's so-called 'Right to Work' law does not guarantee any rights. In fact, by weakening unions and collective bargaining, 'Right to Work" 'lowers wages for all Virginians, endangers safety and health standards that protect workers, destroys job security, and prevents Virginia's working families from earning health insurance benefits. Do you support a path to overturn the so-called 'Right to Work' laws?"

Union workers do some serious heavy lifting during election season - especially when it comes to get-out-the-vote efforts. But McDonnell is definitely going to get some mileage out of unions and the state's pro-business climate during an election all about jobs. 

Va. Gov: McDonnell and Deeds talk to school principals in Williamsburg

Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds won't have their first debate until late July, but the two men will work to woo the same educators in Williamsburg on Tuesday.

Hugh school principals from across Virginia are meeting in Kingsmill for an annual conference and they're going to get a chance to hear from both the men running for governor. McDonnell takes the stage first - early tomorrow morning - while Deeds is expected to speak later in the week. The principals will hear from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Wednesday.

It ought to be interesting to see what kind of a reception that Deeds and McDonnell get at the conference. Both men got the chance to speak to the Virginia Education Association conference in Hampton earlier this year. The Democrats typically have the edge with this voting block - especially when it comes to teachers' unions. But McDonnell didn't shy away from bringing up charter schools and parental choice in education - two things that don't usually sit well with groups of teachers.

Further - the schedule for the conference explicitly mentions that the conference will focus on federal stimulus funds that are being provided to school divisions to offset state and local budget deficits.

To check out some details go to the principals web site here.

Va. Gov: Deeds hits Hampton Roads for small business tour...

Democrat Creigh Deeds will hit a handful of Hampton Roads businesses today during his first local tour since winning the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Deeds won the race going away against Democrats Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran, and now faces Republican Bob McDonnell in the race for Virginia's executive mansion. Here are the details of Deeds first local visit - you can expect to hear about a lot of these mini-tours from McDonnell and Deeds over the next few months.

Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for Governor, will tour Norfolk small businesses on Monday at noon to discuss the challenges that business owners face in the current economic climate.
Here are the details:

Deeds will join Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) and Del. Lionel Spruill (D-Chesapeake) on his first visit to South Hampton Roads since the June 9 primary.

 

Deeds, Northam and Spruill will talk with small business owners in Norfolk about their challenges, and about the importance of keeping Virginia’s economy moving forward with common-sense leadership.

Deeds will start his tour at 12 P.M. at Family Systems II and New Life Programs, Inc. at 850 Tidewater Drive, Ste. A, in Norfolk. He will then visit other small businesses on Tidewater Drive.

Details of Monday’s visit are:

MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2009:

 

12 PM - Sen. Creigh Deeds to Tour Norfolk Small Businesses
With Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) and Del. Lionel Spruill (D-Chesapeake)

    Family Systems II and New Life Programs, Inc.
    850 Tidewater Drive, Ste. A
    Norfolk, VA

    Vanguard TechSolutions
    852 Tidewater Drive
    Norfolk, VA

    Norfolk Truck Center
    736 Tidewater Drive
    Norfolk, VA

Va. Gov: GOP snags top billing on the November ballot...

The lottery at the State Board of Elections swung to the Republicans this week, when the GOP won top billing on the November ballots.

During a Thursday meeting in Richmond the Republican ticket was pulled out of the bowl first - which gives GOP hopefuls running for the House of Delegates top billing too.

In the grand scheme of things, name placement probably doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot in the campaign for the governor's office - because the race between Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds is going to get downright silly - so most folks are going to be forced toget to know both candidates. If you're watching TV or just driving down the street this fall - you are going to be bombarded with McDonnell and Deeds' names and faces.  

The place where the ballot placement could make a difference is the lower ticket races - like the contest between Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling who is running for re-election against Democrat Jody Wagner or Republican Ken Cuccinelli who is running for attorney general against Steve Shannon.

Or the intriguing House of Delegates race - including a bunch on the Peninsula between Republican Del. Glenn Oder and Democrat Gary West, Republican Del. Phil Hamilton and  Democrat Robin Abbott and Republican Del. Tom Gear versus Democrat Sam Eure and independent candidate Gordon Helsel. 

The three local Republicans not only enjoy the power and name recognition of being an incumbent, they now will appear first on the ballot. And it could make a difference.    

The reality is that some folks only come out to vote in November for governor - much in the same way that another pool of voters only get to the ballot box when a presidential race is getting decided. So when these folks have made the decision that drove them to the polls sometimes they just skip down the ballot looking for familiar names - or at the very least partisan identification.

That's where top billing could end up playing a role - perhaps a small role - but you just can't expect every single voter to make a deeply informed vote in every single race. Many people have neither the time nor the inclination to get that politically engaged for better or worse. 

And just think about Deeds and McDonnell's race from 2005 when nearly 2 million Virginian's went to the ballot box - and Deeds lost by fewer then 400 votes. It certainly doesn't seem like a huge stretch to suggest that you could find 400 people scattered across the state who voted in that race despite not knowing a lick of specifics about either candidate. 

But hey - it's June - so maybe we're just trying to make sure every tiny turn of the partisan screw is important. 

  

Nov. elections: Helsel fish fry fundraiser underway in Hampton...

Some political movers and shakers in Hampton are throwing a fish fry right now for Poquoson Mayor Gordon Helsel's independent bid to knock of Del. Tom Gear, R-Hampton.

Helsel, traditionally a member of the GOP, opted to get out of the partisan process in the House of Delegates race and run under his own banner after he said he had trouble getting election details from local Republican officials. 

So Gear is now facing Helsel, and a Democratic challenger - Sam Eure of York County. Three way races are unpredictable affairs because instead of playing chess, candidates are forced to play a three dimensional game where a single move can topple three different boards. Consider the example of this spring's Democratic gubernatorial primary where Sen. Creigh Deeds' proved prognosticators wrong and smashed Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran at the ballot box.

For months Deeds was the odd man out - but with two week left in the race he simply ran away with what was supposed to be a tight race.

Helsel is an intriguing case for the House because he is tremendously popular with the conservative base in Poquoson and is known through Hampton Roads for a conservative bent coupled with a no-nonsense attitude. Gear is the consumate populist with a solid base on the Peninsula - and a serious core of staunch supporters especially in Fox Hill.

But Gear is also a lightening rod in some political circles because of his opposition to increased funding for transportation and the consistent local fights over judicial nominees - which seem to almost always involve Gear. 

So Helsel is ramping up his fundraising efforts in the run up to the July 1 filing deadline for financial reports - which will be an importnat litmus test of the hustle of each of the candidates and also a barometer of their public support. 

It is interesting to take a look at some of the folks who are behind tonight's fish fry in downtown Hampton. 

Take Hampton City Councilman Randy Gilliland, who ran his own bid for the 91st district against Gear in 2005. Gilliland, a Democrat, was never really able to get traction in his race against Gear and Gilliland ended up losing to Gear with less than 40 percent of the vote.   

Gilliland circulated a email encouraging folks to come out to fish fry and get to know Gordon, which is interesting considering that there is a Democrat in the race. Gilliland and Gear have no love lost for each other, so expect Gear to sound off on Gilliland getting into the race.  Here's a snippet from Gilliand's note.

"Please take the time to get to know Gordon.  If you do, I believe you’ll agree that we need him in the House of Delegates!"

The event also includes the Amory family - obviously because it's a fish fry - Vince Behm, Ruff and Bonnie Jones, Chandler Hogge, Junior Dixon and Don Wiggins.

 

Va. vs. Fla: GOP slams Nye on carrier....

U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye got some credit in The Hill recently for his work trying to strip out funding for dredging and other improvements to the port in Mayport Florida - work designed to get the port ready to home base an aircraft carrier.

Well, apparently Nye's hustle wasn't enough to keep the funding out of the bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee - which includes money for dredging and a pier upgrade - two things that the Mayport base would have to have if local officials simply wanted to have a nuclear carrier pay a visit.

Here's a link to get a taste of what the folks in Florida think about the vote on Mayport and dredging....

The National Republican Congressional Committee isn't waiting for the ink to dry on the bill before blasting Nye for losing a round in the aircraft carrier battle. Nye knows he's in a swing district and knows that he's being targeted by the GOP - so his folks have to be prepared for every single vote to take on increased significance straight through 2010.

“With over 10,000 local jobs at stake, Glenn Nye has failed the first big test of his freshman term. While Hampton Roads families can only hope that Nye evolves from a political opportunist into an effective advocate for them, the results thus far speak for themselves.” -  Andy Seré, NRCC spokesman

For those of you who are really paying attention the name Andy Sere might ring a bell - he was one of the folks brought in by the State Senate Republican leadership to help run Tricia Stall's unsuccessful effort to beat Democrat John Miller. So Sere knows the area - and knows the stakes for Nye and GOP. Expect to hear a lot from Sere on Nye over the next 18 months or so.

Va. Gov: Sanford's trips overshadow Kaine...

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's trips to South America and the "Appalachian Trail" seem to be sucking the wind out of Republican efforts to make a fuss about Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's travel as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. 

Sanford made an undisclosed trip to Argentina over the weekend and no one knew where he was for a number of days - including his wife and high-level staffers. At one point staff said he was hiking in the mountains to get some solitude, but then he touched down on an international flight in Atlanta. 

Obviously Sanford's been getting plenty of national attention with just about every newspaper and TV station wondering about the S.C. governor's whereabouts. 

Sanford just lost a big battle on President Barack Obama's federal stimulus funding - and then he disappeared. Here he is sitting down with Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, and he's something of a laidback character. Take a look at the guy - he likes to "re-charge the batteries."

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a Governor - Mark Sanford
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

But it's interesting that the Sanford brouhaha popped up just as Virginia Republicans were putting pressure on Kaine to disclose his travel schedule as the head of the DNC. The state GOP is right to take on Kaine on his nationwide barnstorming for the DNC, because he is still running the state and the partisan job should not get in the way. 

And the GOP managed to get Kaine to on the record about the trips and to ask the DNC to pay for the security detail of state police troopers who protect him on his trips. 

Here's Kaine talking about his travel and offering anyone to call his office and ask where he is 

Virginia GOP chairman Pat Mullins issued a statement that Republicans still want to know more about Kaine's schedule. Mullins offered up the same number that Kaine did for Virginians who want to make sure the executive mansion is up and running.

 “It’s good to know that the people of Virginia won’t be footing the bill for his bodyguards when he goes to Florida on political junkets,” said Mullins.  “We’ve also asked where Tim Kaine is and where he’s been, but he hasn’t answered those questions yet.  Now that he’s said he’ll tell the people about his travel schedule, maybe he’ll actually do it.  He said if people ask, he’ll tell them.  Well, I suggest people call his office and ask where he is.  That number is (804) 786-2211.  Ask for the Governor.  See if he’s in.”

 But for the Virginia GOP - the where's Waldo game definitely commuted south at least for the next few weeks.   

   

Warner making the shift from governor to lawmakers...

CQ Politics has a nice look at Mark R. Warner making the transition from governor of Virginia to one of 100 lawmakers in the U.S. Senate.

Warner obviously has some time to get used to his new office and his new role in Washington, but is interesting to hear Warner talking about his focus in the U.S. Senate and how that differs from his time running the state.

Here's a snippet:

"Now a junior legislator, Warner is digging in to the grunt work of the Senate Banking Committee, where he has been staying below the radar, drawing on his successful experience in the private sector and working behind the scenes to try and help shape the panel’s approach to an overhaul of the nation’s financial regulatory structure — and in doing so, carve out a niche for himself in the Senate.

In recent months, Warner has been meeting with executives, experts and academics in the financial services sector, both in Washington and on Wall Street, soliciting input, organizing white papers and developing ideas to present to his committee’s leaders. And in recent days, he’s laid some of these ideas out in speeches and legislation on the Senate floor, taking an ever-so-slightly higher profile as the Obama administration touts its plan for re-regulation.

“It’s challenging,” Warner says about his transition from being a governor, charged with knocking legislative heads, to a legislator himself. “As governor you had a smaller palate, you could paint on any part of it. Now you’ve got the biggest palette in the world and you have to learn to pick your spots.”

Click here to read more about Warner becoming another member of the Senate...

 

Nye leading fight to save carrier...

Good story in The Hill magazine recently looking at U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye and the potential that the Navy could move an aircraft carrier to Mayport, Florida. 

Nye's role becomes central in the debate over home-porting a carrier in Florida because his district includes Hampton Roads - and the largest naval base in the world - and Republicans are already targeting him in 2010 - because it was a close victory over Republican Thelma Drake. 

"Nye is in a bare-knuckle fight against the Florida delegation, which wants the nuclear aircraft carrier housed at the Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Fla.  Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) is one of the Democrats on the opposite side of the ring.

Nye is one of the most vulnerable House members in the country, having defeated incumbent Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.) in a conservative-leaning district in November.
 
He is one of several Democrats who benefited from increased black turnout thanks to the presence of President Obama on the ballot. His Virginia Beach district is more than one-fifth African-American, and went narrowly for President Obama, 50-48, after going 58-42 for President Bush in 2004."

The story has a lot of fodder on the give-and-take in Washington, and some behind the scenes wrangling but it is interesting to get a look at Nye in Congress.

Click here to read about Nye's in The Hill
 

Va GOP: Republicans trying to pin the tail on Kaine...

The leader of the state Republican Party has filed a freedom of information request trying to track down Gov. Timothy M. Kaineas he headlines Democratic events as the chairman of Democratic National Committee.

Republicans in the general Assembly starting to hit on this theme during this year's session in Richmond, accusing Kaine of spending too much time politicking and too little time focused on Virginia budget problems. Kaine had just started his new gig as the head of the DNC - which funds Democratic campaigns across the country.

So far, Kaine has been able to largely brush aside the critiques because there have been bigger issues - including the state's budget problems, the three-man Democratic primary, the meltdown of Jeff Frederick - etc. etc.

But just in time for the summer lull, Republicans have put together a short video on Kaine's recent destinations as the chair of the DNC - and new chairman Pat Mullins also filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see Kaine's recent travel schedule. 

Virginia Republicans seized on the fact that the Kansas City Star called Kaine a "former" governor - a slip but not an odd one considering Virginia's unusualrule against consecutive terms in the governor's mansion. Here's a statement from Mullins:   

“At a time when Virginia is facing an economic crisis it hasn’t seen in decades, our governor seems to be spending a lot of his time in other parts of the country,” Mullins said.  “Worse yet, he and his staff have steadfastly refused requests from the media for information about his travel schedule.  We think Virginians deserve to know where their governor is, particularly when so many of them are wondering how to put food on the table and take care of their families.”

It's not surprising to see the Republicans making some noise about this. Kaine is still the governor and the state's finances have been hit hard recently - along with the pocketbooks of nearly every state government - and conservative folks probably hate the idea that Kaine is out there headlining Democratic rallies in other states. 

But by the same token, you wonder what the GOP would rather have Kaine working on especially with the General Assembly not in session.