Tim Kaine announces for Senate in Virginia

[Ian David]

Source: The Washington Post

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine announced today that he would immediately resign his post to pursue a run for the open Senate seat in Virginia.

“I am writing to let you know that I have just announced my decision to run for the U.S. Senate from the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2012,” Kaine wrote in am email to DNC members today. He called the move “an exciting next chapter for my family and me, as I embark down a new path.”

Kaine’s announcement is a major recruiting success for Senate Democrats who had worked hard to convince the former Virginia governor to make the race. It also sets up a potential battle of Virginia political titans as Kaine could well face off against former Sen. George Allen (R) in the general election.

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb (D) is retiring after a single term.




Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/tim-kaine-announces-for-senate-in-virginia/2011/04/05/AFPgp0jC_blog.html

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See also: http://kaineforva.com/2012


Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/#!/BreakingNews/status/55318099255238656


Now, maybe Howard Dean can be DNC Chair again and we can kick some ass this time?

[xchrom]

1. ah -- so the dnc chair can go to some one else. nt

[disillusioned73]

4. Yes, my thoughts exactly..

get someone that's competent in that "leadership" position.. Feingold & Grayson are available

[Recursion]

7. I'll pass on Grayson given how badly he tin-eared his own re-election campaign

Feingold is an interesting idea. But neither of them are particularly known as administrators and fundraisers.

[Enthusiast]

10. LOL.

I already have you on the list. I had hoped you would have been tombstoned by now.

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. Why would you hope that a person who has been a member of DU since 2006 become tombstoned?

[Recursion]

20. Because I'm a fairly vocal moderate

who believes that all in all corporations have done more good than harm. And I recognize that pisses a lot of people off (and I'm not even being snarky; I'm not congruous with most of the board, but I still like it here.)

[Enthusiast]

27. When have these corporations done all

this good you speak of? It sure hasn't been recently.

[Recursion]

28. From roughly 1600 until the present day (nt)

[Enthusiast]

32. You're an authentic corporatist Democrat then?

You liked the Citizens United decision? You had no problem with child labor, long hours and dangerous workplaces? All good? The corporations have been good citizens?

[Recursion]

33. Wow, what complete BS that had nothing to do with what I said!

It's a game anybody can play: make up something I didn't say and then make fun of it!

You liked the Citizens United decision?

No. Where did you get that idea?

You had no problem with child labor, long hours and dangerous workplaces?

*sigh* no.

If you will take a second to read again, I said that on balance, corporations have done more good than harm over history. Or do you think our economic development after the renaissance happened on its own?

[Enthusiast]

35. Most of us on DU are enthusiastic Grayson supporters.

Your antipathy toward Grayson is a mystery. Your words sound so.........Republican-like. Defending corporations, attacking Alan Grayson is pretty unusual on DU. This in the face of widespread corporate malfeasance by investment banks, the oil industry and that fact that these guilty corporations fund our opposition. To go out of your way to defend them does not compute.

[Ian David]

36. I'm shocked that "ignored" sounds like a Republican. n/t

[Enthusiast]

38. LOL.

I have never used the ignore feature. Really. So, on your recommendation I thought I would try it. :fistbump:

[Recursion]

37. I'd love Grayson if he accomplished things

His Medicare For All bill was insulting (revenue wasn't even discussed) and his "Taliban Dan" ad was the kind of dishonesty I usually expect from Republicans, not Democrats.

As for corporations, I stand by my judgment that the good they've done more or less outweighs the harm they do (which is why the poor in the US are richer than the rich in the developing world)l

[Recursion]

14. Oh, right, I didn't kowtow to Alan Grayson

Well, I don't like him and he didn't accomplish anything, so I take potshots at him. Not everybody on DU has to have the same pet Congresscritters.

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. Grayson was quite adept at fundraising

In fact, he raised more money than any other Democratic House candidate last year:

http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topraise.php

Of course, the way he raises money would probably conflict with President Obama's reelection campaign.

[Recursion]

18. Yes, he did pull money in

And still managed to tin-ear his campaign into a loss to a challenger that he outspent something like 1.5:1. Again, not who I want running the DNC.

[mod mom]

2. It'll never happen w Obama as head but I'd love for Dean to return.

[Recursion]

5. OFA kind of obviates the need for Dean

He built an infrastructure that raises money and distributes it to state parties. Other than making people like us happy by walking around with a baseball bat there's not much more for Dean to do.

[mod mom]

8. it did in '08 when folks believed they were getting a candidate of the people.

I know I was one of those, now I'll work down ticket for PROGRESSIVES only.

[Recursion]

9. Whatever

:eyes:

Fortunately people have a way of snapping back to reality during a general election.

(Hint: you voted for a progressive in '08. You just hate how Washington works.)

[MessiahRp]

11. Walking around with a baseball bat.

Really? What pathetic garbage.

[Recursion]

17. It was new and exciting

And it did change the way campaigns are run (and, hey, when he came on stage with the bat I was pretty moved too). I just don't see what he brings to the table now.

[onehandle]

3. He has a slim chance if Obama wins Virginia.

And I doubt that the President will win Virginia, so lotsa luck, Governor.

On edit: (see response #24)

[Recursion]

6. Check the census data

I think the Dominion looks pleasantly blue next year.

[RedCloud]

12. True. I live in red as hell SE VA and I see lots of Obama stickers.

[FSogol]

13. Same here. Especially with the overreach the repubs are doing in Prince William County. n/t

[catgirl]

15. FYI: Obama won in Virginia

Obama 53% McCain 47%

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Nov12.html

[Unvanguard]

22. At the moment, Virginia has two Democratic senators.

So I think he has a reasonable shot.

[Recursion]

23. And NoVa keeps growing while southside keeps shrinking

It's not a slam-dunk but if we don't keep VA that's a big problem.

[onehandle]

24. Webb is quitting (because he would lose) and Virginia has been solidly Republican since 2009.

I believe that Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana were aberrations in 2008.

[Recursion]

25. I suppose both parties see their wave as momentum and the other's as an abberation

But Virginia is getting more urban, browner, and younger by the year, all of which point in our direction. And remember VA's statewides are held 1 year after national elections; off-years always favor Republicans.

[sofa king]

29. It's looking pretty good to me.

Poverty has driven droves of otherwise politically apathetic people into the unusual city-districts of Virginia, where they have a better chance to get a little bit of relief from our creaking social safety net. That means that many (if not most) of our most ignorant counties are now partly counterbalanced by tiny islands of reason within them--and those islands now routinely elect Democratic delegates while their influence inexorably spreads into the surrounding countryside.

Take for example Rockingham County, which overwhelmingly voted for McCain in 2008. But inside of Rockingham is the city of Harrisonburg, which overwhelmingly voted for Obama. Rockingham grew 12% from 2000-2010, while Harrisonburg has grown 20% from 2000-2010. That means there's less chance of a "hicktory" for the Republicans there, and if they do win, it will be with less of an advantage than the last time. Together, they sure as hell won't counterbalance more than a couple of precincts in Arlington.

Combine that with the advantage of the incumbent, who for Northern Virginia is now also a "local" candidate, the quickly shifting demographics, and the fact that Republican policies have removed a significant number of their supporters from the books because they're now too destitute to reliably vote against their own best interests, and I think this time around is going to be much easier.

[Recursion]

30. What's up with the independent city thing anyways?

I used to work in Alexandria and it screwed up a lot of web forms that required both a city and a county, when in Virginia you're in one or the other.

[sofa king]

34. It's a neat way to prevent "county drag."

With cities as independent districts, it allows them to concentrate entirely on providing services within the city limits, while enjoying the political advantages of co-equal representation in state government. School bussing programs don't have to pay to reach extreme rural areas. Utilities services don't have to pass the hat around Washington for pork funding. Environmental services get to focus on point-source problems rather than regional ones. Less fighting over road funds. And so on.

In the meantime, counties get to focus on their own, more macroscopic issues, without having to divert funds to issues more naturally within the bailiwick of cities. Neither gets the level of funding a city-and-county arrangement would get, but they spend their money more efficiently (in theory).

There's not much difference between the two at the administrative and representation levels. Arlington County, which is basically the southwest side of the Washington, DC diamond and which by all rights should be a city, remains a county because every once in a while the county decides there's not enough difference to justify the expense of changing all the forms, letterhead, and records.

[Unvanguard]

26. Right, "solidly Republican since 2009"

Such an abundance of data points from which to induce a trend.

[Unvanguard]

21. Not a big fan of his, but probably better than any Republican opponent. n/t

[rocktivity]

31. George "Macaca" Allen?

Yum!

:9
rocktivity