More on Virginia Governor Race

According to Bloomberg News, Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia political scientist, says "Bush is a drag, even in Virginia." That, in reference to the fact that "political ineptitude" brought El Presidente to Virginia today for a stale speech (at least what I heard on CNN was a total carbon copy of the same speech he gave last week), even though the Republican candidate for governor, Jerry Kilgore, didn't want Mr. Bush anywhere near the Commonwealth this close to the election.

And a few months ago no one thought the Democratic candidate, Tim Kaine, the current Lieutenant Gov., had a ghost's chance of carrying a state that Bush won by 8 percentage points in 2004 and which hasn't voted Democratic in a presidential race since 1964.

But Kaine's hanging in there. One big asset is his wife Anne, who is the daughter of former Republican Governor Linwood Holton, who is backing Kaine. The biggest mark against him? A Harvard law degree.

Kaine was mayor of Richmond and has a spotty record of effectiveness. The lieutenant governor's job is basically being a cypher while trying not to drool in public, so Kaine has been relying on the popularity of Gov. Mark Warner, who can't succeed himself. My own EXTREMELY Republican in-laws up in Virginia say they would vote for Warner for another term, if he could run for another term, which conveniently he can't.

(I notice that when Republican relatives want to be extra nice to their heathen Democratic family members, they say stuff like that: "I'd vote for Warner if he could run again," or "I thought Harvey Gantt was such a nice man, and if he were running now I'd vote for him." Their conditional "ifs" are always chosen carefully; i.e., they're out of the realm of possibility.)

The Bloomberg report speculates that if Kaine actually wins the governorship, it would automatically boost Warner's cachet as a potential presidential candidate. We would like to believe that, since Lord knows we'd rather have a strong governor with a record of budget-balancing to head the national ticket rather than a ... U.S. Senator of either gender. One good governor outweighs the combined heft of 42 John Kerrys.

The Republican candidate, Jerry Kilgore, the current attorney general of Virginia, comes from the strong-arm political world of southwest Virginia. His own mother, Willie Mae Kilgore, an elections official in Scott County, has been mentioned in a vote-buying scandal. So we don't look for Kaine to carry a lot of Virginia's mountain counties, if you get our drift.