Tuesday, June 16, 2009
McDonnell makes push to the center
The GOP candidate for governor gained the support of moderate leaders who aided Kaine and Warner.
Associated Press
File March Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell said he wants to reach out to less partisan, more moderate supporters.
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From The Roanoke Times
RICHMOND -- Republican Bob McDonnell made a reach toward the political center in his run for governor Monday, gaining the public backing of moderate civic and political leaders who had roles in coalitions assembled by Democratic Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.
The announcement of a "Virginians for McDonnell" organization could help the former attorney general deflect Democratic charges that he is too closely aligned with a GOP conservative wing that worked against major initiatives of the Warner and Kaine administrations.
The McDonnell campaign group includes two members of Warner's gubernatorial Cabinet and individuals associated with certain policy initiatives embraced by the two Democratic governors.
McDonnell will face Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, in the general election. Deeds won the nomination last week in a three-way primary against better-funded and more liberal opponents. Warner and Kaine have promoted Deeds as a logical successor who can bridge regional and partisan differences in the Capitol.
President Obama also waded into the Virginia race Monday, asking Democratic activists in an e-mail message to get involved in Deeds' campaign. In a message sent to the Virginia e-mail lists of the Democratic National Committee and the group Organizing for America, Obama wrote that Deeds would "bring the same bipartisan, pragmatic approach to politics" as Warner and Kaine.
But McDonnell is making a concerted effort to draw support from moderates who first helped Warner form working coalitions as a candidate and as governor.
McDonnell acknowledged in a news conference that GOP candidates have not done enough to attract that support in recent election cycles.
"I also realize that most elections are decided by those people who don't affiliate themselves with a Republican or a Democrat, but they want good candidates, good government, and they want results," he said.
The new McDonnell group will be led by Judy Ford Wason, a former GOP activist who was involved in similar campaign organizations for Warner's gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaign; and by Wyatt Durrette, who was the GOP's nominee for governor in 1985. Durrette backed Kaine's campaign for governor in 2005.
The group also includes two former members of Warner's Cabinet: former Secretary of Technology George Newstrom and former Secretary of Health and Human Resources Jane Woods. Woods served as a Republican member of the state Senate representing Fairfax County before joining Warner's administration.
Roanoke businessman Heywood Fralin also is a member of the McDonnell organization. Fralin, whose son William is a Republican member of the House of Delegates, backed Warner's 2008 Senate bid and introduced him at the Democrat's kickoff rally in Roanoke last year.
Durrette said the new organization will be a vehicle for those who want to support McDonnell and remain free to back candidates from either party for other offices.
The Republican ticket includes Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who is seeking re-election, and attorney general candidate Ken Cuccinelli, a state senator from Fairfax County. Each of the three statewide offices is elected independently.
"The task of leading Virginia through these challenging times requires a person who knows where the partisan line stops and the governing line begins, and Bob McDonnell has demonstrated that he does," Durrette said.
McDonnell hopes to reverse his party's recent losing streak in statewide elections and has been working to shed the "party of no" label that Democrats have tried to affix to the GOP at the national level.
Deeds' campaign referred questions about the McDonnell endorsements to the state Democratic Party, which accused McDonnell of "trying to perform a political makeover."
Among other things, Democratic spokesman Jared Leopold noted that McDonnell opposed Kaine's plan earlier this year to expand eligibility for unemployment benefits so Virginia could receive $125 million in federal stimulus funds. McDonnell also opposed a 2004 budget compromise that emerged after Warner steered a tax increase through the Republican-run legislature.
Warner argued that the tax and spending plans were needed to adequately fund essential services.
