Sunday, March 29, 2009
Editorial: Virginia's Democratic debates
Three gubernatorial hopefuls are giving the electorate ample opportunity to hear them.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls have agreed to five debates and three joint appearances around the state before the June primary, a number that should allow the party faithful to cast informed votes.
If, that is, the appearances will be broadcast. Details had yet to be worked out when the campaigns of Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran announced the agreement last week.
They're to be applauded for the sheer number of events, as well as their geographic spread, from Williamsburg to Hampton, Danville, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, and finishing in Annandale. People shouldn't have to attend any of them, though, when television and the Internet can give front-row seats to all who are interested.
Of course there is partisan strategy behind the heavy schedule. The debates will generate free news coverage -- perhaps even some excitement in a lackluster primary contest that will pit the winner against former state Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Republicans' unchallenged candidate.
Good politics, though, can be made to serve the public good, and that should be the case in this series of debates. Virginians of all political stripes will have a chance to get to know the Democrats and weigh what each has to say on policy issues at a difficult time for the nation and the commonwealth.
Political analysts already are hyping the ensuing general election as an early referendum on the Obama administration and Democratic Congress. The attention is inevitable, given that Gov. Tim Kaine is Obama's hand-picked chairman of the Democratic National Committee and McAuliffe, a former DNC chairman, one of the national party's biggest money-raisers.
While Virginia is feeling the effects of the nation's economic woes, though, the commonwealth has distinct challenges of its own. Come November, Virginians will be electing not only a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, but all of the state's House of Delegates plus a host of local government officials.
The results are more likely to turn on what Virginians think these officeholders will do at home than what others are doing in Washington. And rightly so.
