Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, waited until the end of Wednesday night's debate at Old Dominion University with his Republican opponent for the state's 6th Senate District, Ben Loyola, to drop a perfectly timed counter to what he said were accusations from his opponent of being a "roadblock" in the General Assembly to Gov. Bob McDonnell's policy agenda.
Throughout the debate Loyola praised the popular Republican governor - recent polls show McDonnell with a 62 percent job approval rating - for keeping unemployment rate in the commonwealth lower than the national average, for helping to solve the state transportation woes with a package that included $3 billion in bonds, and making Virginia the best state in the country to do business.
Loyola repeatedly said he couldn't wait to get up to Richmond to work with McDonnell in support of the governor's policy agenda.
While Northam did paint himself as a bipartisan, moderate lawmaker willing to buck his party in favor of what he saw as legislation that was good for his district and the state as a whole, pointing to being a member of the Commonwealth Caucus, which is made up of two Democratic and two Republican Senators who are all freshman lawmakers, and to being a cosponsor of McDonnell's transportation proposal, he saved his best evidence of his bipartisan credentials for last.
"I want to read to you just a quick statement from a letter that I received actually on my birthday, Sept. 13. And I'll tell you who signed it in just a second," Northam said as he neared the end of his closing remarks. "It was to thank me for what I had done for making Virginia the best state to start a business in. And the end, the last sentence, 'Your commitment to economic development continues to serve all Virginians well as we maintain our focus on job creation and economic development. Thank you for your partnership in creating new opportunities for our citizens. Sincerely, Robert F. McDonnell, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.' "
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks campaign contributions in Virginia politics, McDonnell's Opportunity Virginia PAC has not made any contributions to Loyola's campaign as of the last reporting period - which ran through Sept. 30, with candidate reports being due Oct. 17.
We don't know if McDonnell sent Loyola a birthday card too, but it doesn't look like the governor has given him any presents.
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